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Pro-Advice

As an electric hollowbody, the unusual Virginian appears at first to be an acoustic model, but has minimal acoustic projection.

Photos by George Aslaender

This vintage electric hollowbody has some unusual components—such as a Rezo-Tube bridge—that would make it a fascinating addition to any collector’s vault.

Many guitar fans obsess over the “classics,” but I’ve always been more drawn to the obscure underdogs, especially those designed by England’s James Ormston Burns. Sometimes called the “British Leo Fender,” Burns’ success was comparatively minimal, but he left behind many interesting, if often quirky, instruments. The original Burns London company started in 1959, was bought out by the American Baldwin Company in late 1965, and shut down just a few years later. Few guitars with the Burns logo ever made it to the U.S., but many of his models were available here, branded Ampeg (1962–’64) and Baldwin (1965–’69).

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Have a bit of a budget? Here are eight options that will level up your at-home tones.

There are a million places where you can find the first handful of mics you need when you start to record. But what about when you have the basics down and need to get to the next level? I’ve gathered info about eight different mics that might hit your wallet a bit harder, but the results will be well worth it.

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You book the dream gig, the day finally comes, and you crush the performance. Then what?

Musicians are always chasing the one big gig. But what happens after it’s over?

Being a professional musician is one of the few scenarios where an adult builds an entire life around an interest that grabbed their attention when they were children. Ask kids what they want to be when they grow up, and they usually answer with their fantasy job: professional athlete, cowboy, movie star, princess, president, astronaut. Time usually reveals that many of these career paths are not likely to work, so most of us silence that childish dream and stumble into something that pays the bills. But plenty of musicians never quite make the leap to practicality.

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Now priced at $15,319, this 2-pickup variant on the 1968 Gibson Johnny Smith Double would have sold for $1,145 in the year of its release.

Photos courtesy of Reverb/Gitarren Total

Jazz musician Johnny Smith set the bar high when it came to the design of his signature model, doing his own research and hopping manufacturers when his expectations were left unmet.

A giant of mid-century jazz guitar, Johnny Smith had a fastidious style. He could strike rapid solos, embellish ballads with languid lines, and craft complex chords. Whatever he played, his intention and articulation were crystal clear. Smith’s music is “incredibly intricate and detailed, every note he played, there was nothing extra there. It’s just the essential thing,”—or so said the modern great Bill Frisell, when Reverb interviewed him and Mary Halvorson in 2018 around their Johnny Smith tribute album, The Maid with the Flaxen Hair. That same devotion to detail is apparent in the many signature guitar models that bear Smith’s name, like the 1968 Gibson Johnny Smith featured in this edition of Vintage Vault.

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Guest picker and blues bassist Danielle Nicole.

Photo by Missy Faulkner

Blues bassist Danielle Nicole chimes in with PG staff and reader John Seabolt on what amazes them about their favorite guitarists.

Question: What about your favorite guitarists make them great?

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