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Vintage Vault

The catalog that describes this guitar’s all-rosewood body as “jacaranda” makes the exact kind of rosewood used unclear.

Photos courtesy of Reverb/DK Factory

When it comes to rosewood, there’s a wide variety out there—which makes identifying it a bit of a challenge. On this K. Yairi guitar, the type of tonewood remains a mystery.

The jacaranda trees that line Australian sidewalks with bright violet blooms are a famous variety, but around the world, the name “ jacaranda ” can refer to many different plants. In Brazil, the word encompasses an incredible variety of shrubs and trees, including some species of rosewood .

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Mystery Stocking 2023!

It's Here! Grab your Mystery Stocking Below.


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This month’s dynamic duo from Gibson: a ’64 SG TV finished in white and its same-shaded ’68 EB-O bass counterpart.

On this month’s menu, a ’64 SG TV and a ’68 EB-0—prime examples of the company’s classic mahogany slab designs.

The successful sales of the Les Paul model, launched in 1952, convinced Gibson to expand its solidbody line to include a variety of guitars aimed at players from beginner to professional. This led to the introduction of both the low-priced, flat-bodied, single-pickup Les Paul Junior and the high-priced, elaborately appointed Les Paul Custom in July 1954. By 1955, the Les Paul line also included the Les Paul TV (aka TV Yellow) and the Les Paul Special. The Les Paul Special, TV, and Junior became double cutaway by 1958.

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With its zero fret, Maphis-signature shape, and distinctive vibrato arm, this guitar screams Mosrite, but with its own luxurious bird’s-eye maple body and other appointments.

Patterned on Mosrite’s Joe Maphis model, this luxurious guitar is truly one of a kind.

Before the Mosrite brand was born, its founder, Semie Moseley, was just an independent luthier trying to make a splash. In the same way Paul Reed Smith pitched his pre-factory builds to Carlos Santana and Heart’s Nancy Wilson , Moseley found his first golden ticket in a Southern Californian picker by the name of Joe Maphis.

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With its sleek gold trim intact and just a slight crack in its plexiglass faceplate, this 1966 JTM45 hardly looks its age.

This JTM45 is an amp of which rock and blues dreams are made on.

So often in the world of guitar and amp design, the earliest innovations are hard to improve upon. Companies spend years and countless dollars trying to tweak the formula just to wind up back where they started. The Telecaster still looks virtually the same 75 years later, and Marshalls are still the gold standard for classic rock ’n’ roll amplification.

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