Most things in this world have gone through various changes or “evolutions” to get to how we know them today. When the wheel was invented, it’s not like Rolls-Royce launched their product line the next day – we just weren’t present during the time it took to move from “spinny stone circle” to “Phantom Coupé”. […]
by Michael Wright The Different Strummer It’s odd that I never thought of things this way before but it was encountering Japanese guitars that started me on the road to writing guitar history. It was probably more about coincidence—and me being cheap—than any sort of far-sighted strategy, maybe salted with a generous dash of […]
By Michael Wright The Different Strummer Back in the early 1990s I did a few “guitar shows” for my son’s primary school classes, basically a show-n-tell with half a dozen guitars in various shapes and colors. I’d conclude with “Swamp Thing,” the then-popular TV show theme adaptation of the Troggs’ classic. At the end, I’d ask […]
By Michael Wright The Different Strummer I’ve always been a sucker for oddball guitars. A LaBaye 2×4? You bet! A Bunker Astral Series Sunstar? Yup! A Jay Turser Shark? O’Hagan Shark? Of course. So, when a chance to get a moon-shaped guitars beckoned, the call was irresistible. Now, despite its hallowed place in the […]
By Michael Wright The Different Strummer I never really warmed up to headless guitars. Oh, they were really cool looking and there’s no denying Andy Summers had real style playing a Steinberger for The Police. But I guess I’m old fashioned. I need a head to keep me oriented. Still, present me with something made […]
By Michael Wright The Different Strummer Blame it on disco. I remember it well…as an observer, of course! The excesses of early ‘70s hard rock inspired a vapid dance craze reaction toward the end of the decade with mirror balls and platform shoes and, well, you know, Studio 54, glitter spandex, and Donna Summer and […]
In the good old days, guitar cognoscenti used to snicker at ‘60s Japanese guitar styles because they looked as if they just couldn’t get it right. As in make a guitar as clean and cool as a Fender Strat or Jazzmaster. The joke was on the experts. If the Japanese guitar designers did anything, they got […]
Rhetorical question: What do getting fit through exercise and liking solidbody electric guitars have in common? And, no, I don’t mean Sweatin’ to the Oldies with Richard Simmons or any workout program designed to dance your way to 6-pack abs. I mean discovering Heavy Metal and the guitars that were made for it, like this […]
The first wheel ever invented to be used for transportation would be obsolete by todays standards. It was probably made out of a chunk of heavy stone, and while it may have made life easier thousands of years ago, to use one today would make you that much more thankful for rubber and spokes. Inventions go […]
Whenever you answer a question, it’s inevitable that more questions will be raised. In part one of this series, we talked about why the guitar needed to be electrified, and who it was that came up with the idea. That said, the technology that was used to transform an acoustic into an electric was […]
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