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This month in VG

We speak with country-guitar legend Albert Lee, the man Eric Clapton calls, "...a great, great player, fluid, lyrical and free, like a jazz musician but with country scales, like Django, but with a bluegrass past." He has some impressive instruments, too!

We also go back to Nashville for a Post-Flood Nashville Roundtable, where techs are being asked to bring a small number of go-to instruments or favored vintage goodies back to life, profile "Mr. Rhythm" Freddie Green, discuss Guild In The Post-Fender Era, and give all the details on the Martin OM-28, the
Kapa Continental CO-XII-V, the Standel 920S, and one extraordinarily clean Fender 5G4 Super Amp.

Our monthly perusal of new gear includes an exclusive first look at PRS 25th Anniversary amps, as well as the Keeley Phaser, Dingwall Combustion, Burriss Dirty Red and DC Cab, Fender Super-Sonic 22, Michael Kelly Nostalgia Heirloom, Tech 21 Character Series, and the Sonuus G2-M.

And, "stopping in" to talk about new music are Anthony Phillips, Creed Bratton, Peter Parcek, Robert Randolph, and Jennifer Batten.

Here's a look a few of Albert Lee's guitars!

FEATURES

Albert Lee
The Gypsy Spirit Of A Country-Guitar Hero
We talk in-depth with the man Eric Clapton calls, “...a great, great player, fluid, lyrical and free, like a jazz musician but with country scales, like Django, but with a bluegrass past.” And, he has some impressive instruments, too! By Dan Forte

Taking Stock
A Post-Flood Nashville Roundtable
Weeks after “the flood,” reality has set in for Nashville’s players. While nearly every repair bench in the city is seeing flood cases, most techs are being asked to bring only a small number of go-to instruments or favored vintage goodies back to life, even by those who lost big. By Rusty Russell

Freddie Green
Artistry In Rhythm
Also known as “Mr. Rhythm,” his guitar was a subtle yet unmistakable motivating and metronomic force. Others emulated his style and function, but Green was the archetype – the most famous rhythm guitarist in jazz. By Jim Carlton

The Martin OM-28
In guitardom, one of the more subtle innovations of the ’20s was the introduction of Martin’s Orchestra Model, which had 14 frets clear of the body. It and the introduction of larger-bodied guitars in the early ’30s marked the acoustic flat-top guitar’s arrival and the divergence of steel-string flat-tops from gut-string classicals. By George Gruhn and Walter Carter

Round And Round She Goes
Guild In The Post-Fender Era
Since its beginnings in 1952, Guild has gone through changes in ownership, locales, materials, structural specs, equipment, personnel, and techniques. It has been a strange odyssey, indeed. By Jay Pilzer

The Kapa Continental CO-XII-V
A major part of the emergence of rock-and-roll music involved the folk revival of the mid 1960s. One of the instruments that came to the fore was the 12-string guitar. Here’s one example from the era. By Michael Wright

The Standel 920S
The first instrument shown in the company’s 1967 catalog, this unique guitar was also a display model at the NAMM show in Chicago. By Willie G. Moseley

The Fender 5G4 Super Amp
With transition-era specs and cosmetics that have been revisited far less than those of their tweed predecessors and blackface successors, the tan-Tolex amps of the early ’60s are fun to check out. And this is one of the cleanest vintage Fenders of any era that you are ever likely to find! By Dave Hunter

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