Tag Archives: history

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 impeccable quality being produced by companies such as that of Taylor, and to the other end where small luthiers such a Brook Guitars are making individual, one-off instruments like no other, each tailored to the particular needs of their client. These are only two examples of the extreme ends of the scale, there are hundreds of makers out there each doing their own unique thing to meet the needs of musicians the world over.

Every company has it’s own selling points and fans, but none more so than that of Martin Guitars, and for very good reason: Heritage.

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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 stayed near the top of the game for over a century. All this was thrown into question last year when the world famous brand announced bankruptcy. The music industry took in a collective breath waiting to see what the future held for the much loved company behind some of the most famous guitars, sounds, and riffs ever created.

Before we speculate about the future, let's have a little history lesson about Gibson's rise and fall from grace.

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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 gifts and subsequently go onto shape a whole new genre of music. One such guitar was Jimmy Page's Dragon Telecaster. Continue Reading

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 of it.

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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… but let’s have a little refresh on the history, the origins of the brand, the journey and ultimately where we are today with probably the biggest name in Rock ’n’ Roll.

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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, technology and history.

I was sat eating my breakfast the other morning watching YouTube (don’t judge me) enjoying a bit of the satirical world of Charlie Brooker, when a video by a well known youtuber by the name of Rob Scallon popped up. 

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

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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 that you might also be interested to see some of the vintage treasures that he came across, so sit back, relax and enjoy...

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