Here’s Chris Martin surrounded by a group of guitars created to commemorate his family’s 192-year history.
The home organ once ruled the world, only to go extinct. Is the acoustic guitar next?
When I was growing up, my Aunt Kate had a home organ in her living room. Back then, home organs were everywhere. They were sold at malls across America, and were a staple of post-WWII households. Brands like Lowrey, Magnus, and Hammond dominated the market. Lowrey, a division of Norlin (which eventually acquired Gibson), was especially massive. In fact, in a year where Gibson generated $19 million in revenue, Lowrey pulled in a staggering $100 million.
But like all booms, the home organ’s success was temporary. By the 1980s, it had gone bust. A huge contributing factor was the entrance of Casio: a more affordable, portable alternative that rendered the home organ obsolete.
Thankfully, the acoustic guitar has always had portability on its side. I’ve witnessed three major acoustic-guitar booms in my lifetime: the folk and folk-rock explosion of the late ’50s through the late ’70s, the MTV Unplugged resurgence, and most recently, the COVID-era surge.
The ’80s, however, were a tough time for acoustic guitar builders. That decade belonged to pointy electric guitars and hair metal. But the acoustic guitar came back. And unlike the home organ, it has not only endured, but thrived.
My great-grandfather capitalized on the demand for mandolins in the early part of the 20th century. We also tried to make and sell banjos. In addition to that, we made archtops, and although they weren’t as popular as some other brands, we did borrow the 14-fret neck.
While we were making 12-fret guitars with steel strings (the real benefit of that era was a dramatic improvement in the quality of steel strings), we discovered that many players wanted more access to the body and a slimmer profile. Starting with a 000-size guitar, we quickly converted many of our models to the new modern neck design, most notably our dreadnought model. The timing was right, as the dreadnought became the go-to guitar for country music. The steel-string flattop would lend itself to a fantastic melding of styles and types of music from around the world (and around the corner), becoming the driving voice of not just country, but also folk and many other genres.
Baby boomers (myself included) grew up with the sound of the acoustic guitar, and playing the music of our youth remains an essential part of any enthusiast’s repertoire. Our generation is not only large but also living longer, thanks to modern medicine and healthier lifestyles. Many of us have accumulated wealth, and for those of us in the business of making and selling guitars, that’s good news.
I mean no disrespect when I say, “Thank goodness I wasn’t born into the world’s most famous accordion-making family.” Accordions had their day, just as the home organ once did. Interestingly, accordions still have a niche following, whereas the home organ is now a historical artifact. While home organs were, for a time, all the rage, I doubt that even at the peak of their popularity anyone owned more than one. Quite a different situation when it comes to guitars and guitar collecting.
I do wish I could share with my ancestors how popular the guitar continues to be.
Every so often, someone writes an article with a headline like, “Is the Guitar Dead?” My answer is simple: no.
As long as we boomers—and everybody else—keep playing.
The collection includes Cobalt strings with a Paradigm Core, Tim Henson Signature Classical Strings, and the Tim Henson Signature FretWrap by Gruv Gear.
Engineered for maximum output, clarity, and durability, these strings feature:
- Cobalt with a Paradigm Core (not RPS) for added durability
- Nano-treated for maximum lifespan and corrosion resistance
- Gauges 9.5, 12, 16, 26, 36, 46 (Turbo Slinky set)
- Available individually or as part of the Tim Henson Signature Bundle
Tim Henson Signature Classical Strings
Crafted for dynamic, percussive tonality, these strings pair fluorocarbon trebles with silver-plated copper basses to deliver exceptional response and clarity.
- Gauges: 24, 27, 33, 30, 36, 42
- Available individually or as part of the Tim Henson Signature Bundle
Tim Henson Signature FretWrap by Gruv Gear
An essential string-dampening tool, the Tim Henson Signature FretWrap is designed for cleaner playing by eliminating unwanted overtones and sympathetic vibrations.
- Features Tim Henson’s custom ‘Cherub Logo’ design
- Size Small, fits 4-string basses, 6-string electric/acoustic guitars, and ukuleles
- Ideal for live performance and studio recording
- Ernie Ball collaboration with Gruv Gear
- Available individually or as part of the Tim Henson Signature Bundle
The Ernie Ball Tim Henson Accessory Bundle Kit
For players who want the complete Tim Henson experience, the Ernie Ball Tim HensonSignature Bundle Kit includes:
- Tim Henson Signature Electric Strings (9.5-46)
- Tim Henson Signature Classical Strings (Medium Tension)
- Tim Henson Signature FretWrap by Gruv Gear (Small)
- Tim Henson Signature Cable (Exclusive 10ft white dual-conductor cable, only available in the bundle)
The Tim Henson Signature String & Accessory Collection is available starting today, March 19, 2025, at authorized Ernie Ball dealers worldwide.
For more information, please visit ernieball.com.
Ernie Ball: Tim Henson Signature Electric Guitar Strings - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.If working on your own instruments sounds intimidating, this issue’s cover story may be the gateway you need. And yes, Ted has a troubled history of repairing his own 6-strings.
A few decades ago, my mother-in-law found an old Japan-made guitar at a yard sale for $5. It played pretty well for a guitar with a baseball-bat neck, and sounded decent in a junkyard-dog kind of way. But the tuning pegs were rusty and pretty lazy about staying in tune, no matter how much I encouraged them to do their job.
I hadn’t been playing all that long, but figured I could cure the issue. I got some replacement tuning pegs. I noticed they were a little snug going in, but I screwed them in place, and they seemed to work. At least for a few days, at which time little hairline cracks began radiating from them, and growing into larger and larger crevasses, until the headstock had multiple large canyons and the guitar became unplayable. The instrument sat around for a couple months, and I decided it was likely financially burdensome to replace or repair the headstock, so I tossed the guitar in a dumpster.
In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t thrown it out. I think it was a Teisco, for one thing, but this was years before I knew who Hound Dog Taylor was. Today, I want a Teisco! At the least, I wish I’d soaked the guitar in lighter fluid, gone to a pond, lit the beast, and set it to sail. It deserved a Viking funeral. After all, it had already traveled around a good portion of the world and likely had adventures before it ended up in a Rhode Island yard sale and in my poor custodianship.
“I wish I’d soaked the guitar in lighter fluid, gone to a pond, lit the beast, and set it to sail. It deserved a Viking funeral.”
I told you this story as evidence that I am the world’s worst guitar repair person. More evidence: Years later, when I was ripping around the country in a minivan with my raucous Mississippi hill country blues inspired outfit Scissormen, I used to carry everything I thought was necessary to make emergency repairs—an array of tools and supplies including wrenches, screwdrivers, wire, a replacement humbucker, duct tape (the miracle worker!), and a soldering iron. Trouble is, every time I had to make a solder because of a bad connection to a pot or some pesky wiring issue in an amp, it would come undone in about a week … tops. Even replacing the selector-switch cap on my Esquire reissue was a disaster. It popped off during a particularly heated set, and I ended up carving a three-inch ditch on the lower part of my right hand with the exposed toggle. With blood smeared across the face of the guitar, at least I felt as cool as Pete Townshend for a few minutes.
I’m penning this confessional because this is our annual DIY cover, spotlighting the story “You Broke It; You Fix It.” After many years and with the insight from DIY articles in guitar magazines (including PG and especially Jeff Bober’s now retired “Ask Amp Man” column), from the luthiers who’ve befriended me, and practice, I can now make some basic fixes to my amps, guitars, and pedals. But in past issues, we’ve run some DIY stories I’d never attempt, like building a Leslie-style cabinet with plywood and Styrofoam, among other materials, and re-creating the Thurston Moore drone guitar. These are great projects, but they are beyond the needs and perhaps the grasp of a lot of us. I think focusing on basic repairs and mods is generally more helpful for most players, and the heavy lifting can be done by skilled repair techs or the more ambitious and mechanically coordinated. (By the way, I’m sure everybody ever featured in “Reader Guitar of the Month” is hands-down better at guitar building/fixing/etc. than me.)
So, when I asked Nashville-based luthier Marshall Dunn to write this issue’s cover story, I requested that he focus on correcting simple guitar injuries that could happen to any instrument on any given night: a bent or loosened tuner, a divot in the body or a fret, a jack slipping into the body. And to showcase the assortment of tools we’d need to make these easy but potentially intimidating fixes ourselves. These small injuries can be caused by something as simple as a guitar falling, or a burst of especially exuberant onstage expression—like the night I ended a set with wailing feedback and slid my Les Paul across the stage toward my Marshall 4x12, where it stuck between the cabinet and the floor, making even more feedback and divoting a fret. (The next day, the late, great luthier Jim Mouradian gave me the scolding I deserved when I sheepishly took the guitar to his shop.) Be sure to check out Marshall’s video online, too, where you can see him in action as he talks you through the fixes.
So, consider this a “gateway” repair story, for those intimidated by the work or, in my case, past failures. Start here and maybe the next step will be that Thurston Moore drone guitar.