I have a confession: I’m a bit of a headstock snob, mainly because I’ve always equated quality with the name on the headstock. Additionally, I’ve had mixed experiences with Squier guitars before. As a result, I haven’t paid much attention to Squier guitars over the past few years. However, over the past year after joining The Gear Page forums and The Telecaster forums, I started hearing a lot of very good reviews about the Squier Classic Vibe ’50s Telecaster. The first few times I heard rave reviews, I didn’t pay much attention to them. However, over time after hearing more and more rave reviews, I decided to take a closer look at the Squier Classic Vibe ’50s Telecaster.

The Classic Vibe Telecaster is not meant to be an exact replica of a ’50s Telecaster; it’s meant to evoke the vibe of those guitars, and I think it does a good job of that. This Telecaster features a white polyester finish, a maple neck, a one-ply black pickguard, Alnico III neck and bridge pickups, and one volume and one tone control with a three-way switch. The most intriguing part of this guitar to me is the pine body. I’ve never played a guitar with a pine body, so I was curious to see how the guitar played and sounded.

From what I can tell, the pine body takes a little bit of the “spank” away from what I normally think of when I think of Telecasters. The guitar sounds a little bit darker and maybe a little edgier than some of the other Telecasters I’ve played. I was thinking that I might need to swap out the pickups due to the fact that this is such an inexpensive guitar and I didn’t think they’d sound very good. I may still swap them out at some point in the future, but I actually like the way the pickups sound. Many people think they sound just as good as the pickups in the Made in Mexico Telecasters, and I’d have to agree.

One of the few complaints some people have about this guitar is that the neck is a little too small. I have to disagree, though. I’m used to playing thicker necks, but I find the thin neck of the Classic Vibe ’50s Telecaster to feel great. In fact, after playing my Jimmie Vaughan Strat for a while, my fretting hand often hurts. Not so with the Telecaster. I can play for a long time and experience no pain.

For a relatively inexpensive guitar, the fit and finish of the Classic Vibe ’50s Telecaster exceeds my expectations. The frets are well fitted, and I couldn’t find any flaws in the finish. The guitar feels solid and well-made. I wouldn’t say that the Classic Vibe ’50s Telecaster is as good as USA-made Telecasters (although they can hold their own pretty well), I would say that the Classic Vibe ’50s Telecaster is as good as any Made In Mexico Telecaster I’ve ever played.

If you’re in the market for a well-made, yet inexpensive Telecaster, I highly recommend checking out the Squier Classic Vibe ’50s Telecaster. The street price for the guitar is $350. If you want the same value in a slightly different package, Fender has recently announced two more Classic Vibe Telecasters, the Classic Vibe Custom and the Classic Vibe Thinline.

Gibson recently introduced the Keb’ Mo’ signature Bluesmaster acoustic guitar. The guitar is loosely based on Keb’s Epiphone Bluesmaster, which was a popular parlor-sized guitar that Gibson discontinued about 10 years ago. The Keb Mo’ Bluesmaster features a spruce top, mahogany back and sides, and a bound, rosewood fingerboard. It is available in a natural or sunburst finish. Gibson has recently posted a video of Keb’ Mo’ discussing the guitar.

As a fan of both parlor-sized guitars and Keb’ Mo’, I’m glad to see Gibson come out with this model. However, I’d also like to see them reintroduce the Epiphone Bluesmaster.

Signature series guitars. All major guitar manufacturers make them. Some people love them, and some people hate them. Personally, I fall into the “love them” camp. The ironic thing is that many of the people who claim that they hate them would not hesitate to play a Les Paul, which is perhaps the prototype for signature series guitars.

What I like about signature series guitars is that they either take inspiration or direct feedback from the artists that inspired the guitars, resulting in a guitar that is different from the standard fare. Additionally, most signature guitars have unique features not available on the standard production guitars. For example, taking cues from his famous “Number One” guitar, the Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster has the vibrato arm on the top of the bridge rather than the bottom. The newly released Rosewood Eric Johnson Stratocaster has unique colors and a bound fretboard, which no other current product model Stratocaster has.

One trend I’ve noticed in some signature series guitars is that the identifying marks, such as the artist’s signature, have been moved from obvious spots on the guitar to the back of the guitar or other hidden areas. For example, the Stevie Ray Vaughan model has the signature on the front of the instrument, whereas the recent John Mayer and Kenny Wayne Shepherd Stratocasters have the signature on the back of the headstock. I think this is likely in response to the resistance that some players have to playing an instrument with another player’s name on it.

Even though I’m a fan of signature guitars, some guitar manufacturers have taken the signature guitar concept a little too far. For example, Dean Guitars have over 30 guitars inspired by or attributed to Dimebag Darrell. Fortunately, other manufacturer’s have taken a less is more approach to signature guitars.

That being said, I think signature series guitars provide a great way for fans to pay tribute to their guitar heroes. Additionally, I think signature series guitars provide an opportunity for guitar manufacturers to work directly with artists to create unique and innovative instruments. Gibson’s Les Paul is an example of a manufacturer working directly with an artist to create a unique instrument that has stood the test of time. And, it’s provided a platform for other artists to create their own unique guitar.

What do you think about signature series guitars?

Guitar World magazine recently posted a video of their exclusive tour of the Paul Reed Smith factory. I found it interesting that, although machines are used to do the cutting of the body and neck, there is still a lot of manual labor involved in assembling a PRS guitar.

I’ve always enjoyed working with my hands, and I’ve had an itch for a while to build my own guitar. A friend of mine built a fretless bass using exotic wood. It was beautiful! He built it from scratch and did an excellent job for his first try.

I don’t have the tools I would need to build a guitar from scratch, so I’d probably need to build one from a kit or from parts if I ever decided to build my own guitar. Several places offer kits and/or parts that you can build from. For example, Stewart-McDonald and Warmoth both offer guitar parts for the do-it-yourselfer. Even Martin offers guitar kits. It seems like building an electric guitar would be easier than building an acoustic guitar, although maybe it wouldn’t matter if you were using a kit.

Have you ever built a guitar, either from scratch or from a kit? If you have, please share your experience in the comments!

In my continuing quest to learn how all musical instruments are made, I recently watched another episode of the Science Channel’s How It’s Made series, this time featuring a segment on how pedal steel guitars are made. I’ve heard that they are difficult to play, but I didn’t realize how involved steel guitars really are. Check it out:

Earlier this week, I posted a video about how amps are made. I thought I’d follow that video up with a two part series about how electric guitars are made. These videos are from the Science Channel’s show How It’s Made, and they highlight Godin Guitars. Part 1 discusses the crafting of the wood, and part 2 discusses the electronics.

Part 1:

Part 2:

As a bonus, here’s a video from the Travel Channel series Made In America highlighting how Gibson guitars are made:

Gibson has recently released the Jeff Beck 1954 Les Paul Oxblood tribute guitar. Gibson recently sat down with Beck in London to talk about the guitar, why he chose Gibsons early in his career, and what drives him musically:

Have you ever wondered what the difference was between a standard guitar and a baritone guitar? Premier Guitar has a pretty good write up about baritone guitars, written by Sweetwater Sales Engineer Art Hill.

In essence, it comes down to scale length. The scale length of a baritone guitar rests between a bass guitar and a standard guitar. As a result, baritone guitars often use heavier gauge strings and are tuned down lower than standard tuned guitars.

I was surprised to found out the diversity of artists that have used baritone guitars. Duane Eddy, George Harrison, John Lennon, Joe Perry, Johnny Cash, Dave Matthews, and Stevie Ray Vaughan all used baritone guitars at some point in their career, among many others.

Yesterday, November 28, 2008, marked the official debut of Fender’s Yngwie Malmsteen Tribute Series Stratocaster. Like the other Tribute Series guitars that Fender has done, this is a limited edition guitar that is based on the guitar that the artist is most known for. In Yngwie’s case, this is a scalloped-neck olympic white 1971 Fender Stratocaster. Fender always seems to do a meticulous job with their Tribute Series guitars, so I’m sure the Malmsteen guitar is just as authentic.

Below is Fender’s promotional video for the guitar.