The Enduring Mystique of Martin Guitars

Posted on Tue 19 March 2019 in entries • Tagged with acoustic guitar, C.F. Martin, guitar, history, Martin

Eric clapton and martin guitar

The guitar world is filled with many manufacturers making great instruments. Today we are fortunate to live in a world were a certain degree of automations has brought prices down while simultaneously bringing the standards of quality up. On one end you have a mass production of various models of …


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Gibson - Past, Present, and Future

Posted on Wed 13 February 2019 in namm-2019 • Tagged with acoustic, blues, electric guitar, gibson, history, jazz, les paul, mandolin, orville, robert johnson, ted mccarty

Gibson is synonymous with guitars and music. They have put more instruments in the hands of trail blazing musicians of the 20th century than any other brand.

They have had ups and down over years, had many hits, but equal amounts of misses with iconic guitar designs but ultimately have …


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Fender Release Limited Edition Jimmy Page Dragon and Mirror Telecasters

Posted on Tue 12 February 2019 in namm-2019 • Tagged with dragon, electric guitar, fender, history, jimmy page, led zeppelin, mirror, news, telecaster, the yardbirds

The world of Rock is filled with iconic guitars: Gary Moore/Peter Green's Les Paul, David Gilmour's Black Strat, and any guitar Hendrix ever touched. Many of these guitars that are becoming more legendary than the guitarists that played them even.
These instrument are often passed between the greats as …


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Buying Preowned: Old Wood, Just as Good?

Posted on Mon 30 July 2018 in entries • Tagged with environment, fender, gibson, guitar, history, instruments, preowned, vintage

The guitar industry is facing a little bit of a problem... I'm not talking Gibson failures or the fact there seems to be less and less guitar heroes making it to the big time like they did during the 50s/60s/70s etc. What I'm talking about wood, or lack …


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The Origins of Marshall: The Birth of a Legend

Posted on Wed 04 July 2018 in Amplifiers • Tagged with amplification, code, DSL TSL, history, history of marshall, JCM, JTM45, JVM, marshall, MG, origin, originating of marshall

les paul gibson marshall superbass vintage 1969

What can I say about Marshall amps that hasn’t been said since Mr Marshall himself brought to life amplifiers from his small shop in Hanwell, London for the likes of Pete Townshend, Richie Blackmore, and Big Jim Sullivan in the early 60s? 

The answer is: not a great deal …


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Origins of Sound

Posted on Mon 21 May 2018 in entries • Tagged with 20th century, audio interface, edison phonograph, history, origins of sound, phonograph, sound recording, The Acoustic Era... 1877 - 1925, The Digital Era… 1975 - Present, The Electrical Era... 1925 - 1945, The Magnetic Era... 1945 - 1975, thomas edison, vinyl

Before we get stuck in I would like to highlight the fact I am a guitarist of 15 years with about 5 minutes of recording experience.  This isn’t a comprehensive insight into the evolution of music technology but purely a short ‘ode to’ written by a lover of music …


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Guitars as an Investment

Posted on Wed 26 April 2017 in entries • Tagged with guitars, history, investment

GibsonBBKing
Our Guitar Department Manager, Terry Haselden, talks us through what to look for and what to avoid when considering a guitar as an investment.

Here is a question I get asked many times..."What guitar(s) should I be purchasing as an investment". Guitars are musical instruments that are meant …


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ROLAND MUSEUM & COMPANY HISTORY

Posted on Fri 02 November 2012 in entries • Tagged with history, roland

Roland Logo

Recently our Sales Director, Andy Legg, was lucky enough to visit the amazing Roland Museum in Japan, where he came into contact with a LOAD of classic Roland gear! Knowing that we would all be very jealous, he instinctively whipped out his camera phone and began taking snaps! We thought …


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