Walter Carter

2 weeks ago | vintageguitar.com | Dave Hunter |Michael Wright |Walter Carter |Oscar Jordan

June 2019 VOL. 33 NO. 08FEATURESBacon & Day The Guitar YearsA major force in the banjo market of the early 20th century, B&D’s story includes a significant chapter on guitars as the company pushed to compete when the guitar moved closer to the front of stages.

Jan 7, 2025 | vintageguitar.com | George Gruhn |Walter Carter

As had been the case with tenor banjos, mandolins, and classical/minstrel banjos in earlier eras, the best-selling fretted instrument attracted the most attention from makers, and the growing competition among guitar makers toward the end of the ’20s sparked a flurry of innovations, the most radical of which were the resonator guitar and the electric guitar.

Mar 27, 2024 | vintageguitar.com | George Gruhn |Walter Carter

It wasn’t an instant change, however, from the New Yorker and Excel (models handed down from D’Angelico) to the Centura and Avant Garde. D’Aquisto first retreated from the traditions of ornamentation to arrive at what he felt was the essence of the archtop guitar. Only then did he let his imagination drive his designs. The New Yorker Classic show here, from 1986, represents D’Aquisto’s bridge between the traditional and the modernistic – the end of one era and beginning of another.

Feb 8, 2024 | vintageguitar.com | George Gruhn |Walter Carter

Because pre-World War II dreadnoughts have been the most highly sought and most carefully studied Martin models, their spec changes are the most familiar to vintage Martin aficionados. But anyone who assumes that changes in dreadnoughts (or any other size, for that matter) were uniform across the line will be in for some surprises. As this 1937 0-21 illustrates, many of the 0-size and 00-size models did not change in step with the larger models.

Jun 13, 2023 | vintageguitar.com | George Gruhn |Walter Carter

The Fender Precision Bass, introduced in 1951, was arguably more revolutionary and more influential on popular music than the Telecaster or Stratocaster. As the first commercially successful electric bass, it was a landmark in the evolution of musical instruments. As an electric bass guitar, it was even more important, as an instrument that allowed bassists the same physical freedom as well as the same playing technique enjoyed by electric guitarists.