February 2, 1959 The Winter Dance Party Arrives in Clear Lake, Iowa On this frozen night in 1959 the Winter Dance Party, featuring headliners Buddy Holly and the Crickets, arrived at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. The show also included Frankie Sardo, Dion and the Belmonts, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, and Read more…
Sixty years ago today (Jan. 26, 1956) Buddy Holly recorded his songs for the first time at Decca Records in Nashville Tennessee. The sessions were held in Owen Bradley’s Barn, known as the “Quonset Hut” which is now part of the Sony Building. Performing on the recordings with Buddy were Sonny Curtis on lead Read more…
On this day in 1956, Buddy Holly along with Sonny Curtis and Don Guess arrived in Nashville, Tennessee. The next day would be the beginning of Buddy’s short, but highly prolific, professional recording career. Hashtags: #BuddyHolly #SonnyCurtis #DonGuess #Buick #UprightBass #Lubbock #Nashville #DeccaRecords
On this day 60 years ago, January 23 1956, a 20-year-old Buddy Holly along with guitarist Sonny Curtis and bass player Don Guess loaded their gear into Buddy’s parent’s Buick (strapping the upright bass to the roof of the car!) and left Lubbock for Nashville hoping they might cut a Read more…
Compliments of the good folks at Reverb.com, here is the true story behind Michael J. Fox’s “Johnny B. Goode” guitar, played during the 1955 Enchantment Under the Sea Ball – in the first Back to the Future movie. This very unique and rare Gibson ES345 TDC – which didn’t even exist in 1955 – Read more…
Here’s a great article that explains how to mod your tube amp. 8 Guitar-Amp Mods for Newbies WARNING! Before you dive in, be aware that tube amps contain lethal (deadly!) voltages of electricity stored in the capacitors, even when unplugged. Do not touch unless you know what you are doing! Read more…
The 1979 Guyatone EX1 is a cool vintage solid-state guitar amp made in Japan. One channel, 20 watts, 12″ speaker, overdrive and reverb combo.
From the tail end of the vacuum tube era, a real Tone Gem in the genre of garage band tone. Editor’s Note: This is Part Two of a two part series on modifying the Silvertone 1421 guitar amp. If you’d like to go back and read Part One, then click here: Modified Read more…
Great Analog Delay, On the Cheap! Looking for a good, vintage, analog delay for your pedal board? You can get a legendary early 80’s Boss DM-2 for $200 to $300. But why not give the Arion Stereo Analog Delay a try for about $100 or less? The SAD-1 is a surprisingly great Read more…
More Murph Sightings Just one day after we reported the #AlmostFamous story of Murph Guitars, one of the rarest 1960′s guitar shows up on eBay. Interestingly, the seller has misnamed the Squire II-T as the Squire 11-T. Same naming mistake that Michael Wright made in his article. Here’s the link: Vintage 60′s MURPH Read more…