2026 is not only the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence, but also the 100th anniversary of Route 66. Long before modern interstate highways were built in the 1950s, the US began a system of federally designated highways and in 1926, stitched together a bunch of previously state run highways into the 2,448 mile (3,940 km) Route 66. It ran from Chicago to Los Angeles (technically it takes a right turn in LA and ends in Santa Monica). There are a lot of ki

The Little Joe was sold at the beginning of the 20th century for the amazing price of $1 by the Harp-O-Chord Company of Columbus, OH. It was patented in 1903 and is one of the strangest instruments you will ever encounter. It had a round body like a banjo, a weirdly shaped neck, only two frets and a harmonica attached to it, The two frets were positioned where the 5th and 7th frets would normally be. The instrument's four strings were tuned to an open C chord, thus holding yo

George Harrison's "Rocky" is one of the most iconic guitars in rock history. In 1965, the Beatles' roadie Mal Evans was sent to a London music store to buy Stratocasters for both John and George and returned with two 1961 models. Bored one night in 1967 during the Sgt. Pepper’s era, Harrison took some day-glow paint and re-painted the body and pickguard. He later added an homage to his early rock & roll inspirations George Vincent (Be-bop-a-lula) and Carl Perkins (Go Cat Go)

Original 1931 A-22 The world's first commercially available solid body electric guitar was the Rickenbacker A-22 which debuted in 1932, eighteen years before Leo Fender released his first guitar. It had a small round body which with the neck sticking out of it engendered it's nickname of the "frying pan", The nickname was doubly fitting as the neck and body were cast as a single piece of aluminum. Not many of these were sold because it was the height of the Great Depression

What would you get if an accordion and a guitar had a baby? The Hagstrom P46!!! Hagstrom Accordion Hagstrom was a traditional maker of accordions in Sweden and they decided to get into the guitar market in the late 1950s. Of course, they incorporated many of their accordion design features into their guitars. Things like the shiny pearloid body covering, lots of buttons, gold trim, etc. Their initial top of the line guitar in 1958 was the Hagstrom De Luxe or P46 model. It c

Tom's Travelcaster There's a company called Traveler Guitars that makes very compact guitars to fit in the overhead bins of airplanes. Their original models were headless with the tuning pegs imbedded in the body. Weird looking and never very appealing to me. Then I saw they were making a full scale guitar with the usual headstock on top that looked like a Fender Stratocaster with part of the body cut away. Travel Guitar brand Travelcaster I set out to make my own improved ve

In 1964, the Beatles burst onto the world stage when they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. John was playing a black Rickenbacker guitar that had been his mainstay since he bought it in 1960 from a music store in Hamburg. It was a 1958 Rickenbacker Capri model 325. When purchased, it had a natural finish, huge "stove knobs" on it and a vibrato that didn't work very well and made the guitar go rapidly out of tune. A little known fact about this model is that is has a scale len

Tom's tribute to Jerry Garcia's Alligator guitar Jerry played many guitars over his career, but one of the most famous was his "Alligator" guitar which was his main go to guitar in the early 1970s including the Grateful Dead's iconic Europe '72 album. Jerry acquired the guitar from Graham Nash when he played on one of Graham's solo albums. It was a 1950s Fender Stratocaster with a nicely grained Ash wood body with a clear stain that really shows off the grain. Ash is also a d

Tom's Coodercaster Tribute One of the most famous slide guitar players of all time is Ry Cooder . He has made significant contributions to various music genres, including blues, rock and world music. Cooder's innovative guitar techniques and rich musical storytelling have earned him critical acclaim and a dedicated fan base over the decades. You can see him in the movie Buena Vista Social Club which helped revive interest in traditional Cuban music. Ry's original Ry's signat

I wanted a nice short scale (30") bass guitar which is a lot easier for people that are primarily guitar players to play than the standard 34" bass guitar scale. For versatility, I wanted one with a P/J pickup configuration which combines the neck pickup from a Precision Bass with the bridge pickup from a Jazz Bass. In the Fender line, the Jaguar SS Vintage Modified Bass fits those needs very nicely (the SS meaning Short Scale). I found one that I could get for a fantastic pr