After much lobbying Left handeders are going to get a shot at these collectable babies. Introduced in 1922, the Gibson L5 is the precursor of the modern archtop guitar. It was the first archtop to feature f-holes, which allowed it to project through the horn-dominated bands of the day. Its strong, full, warm sound was an immediate and overwhelming success that turned the heads of makers, players and listeners alike. A new Strat was developed in 1986, unveiled to key dealers, and introduced to critical raves at the January 1987 NAMM trade show. Details included typical features (three-layer pickguard, one-piece maple neck, etc.), plus a small headstock, 4-bolt neck, a 9 1/2” radius fingerboard with jumbo frets, a TBX tone circuit, a redesigned tremolo with two bearing points instead of six screws, flat-polepiece pickups, a hum-reducing, reverse-polarity pickup in the middle position, a silver transition logo, and a urethane finish. Vintage Acoustic Guitar. The instrument has hardly changed in the 50 years that it has produced Buddy Holly hits, the blues riffs of Stevie Ray Vaughan, the soulful sounds of Eric Clapton, the shimmering tone of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, the sound of Joe Walsh of the Eagles, and the melodies of Jeff Beck. This is the comprehensive, must-own owner's or collector's manual for any Gretsch fan. It uncovers the history of the guitars through 32 pages of color photos, hundreds of black & white photos, and forewords by Fred Gretsch, George Harrison, Randy Bachman, Brian Setzer, and Duane Eddy. It was half a century ago that the curvaceous instrument, recently named by What Guitar? magazine as the world's greatest electric guitar, debuted in a career that would change the sound of music forever. Vintage Acoustic Guitar.
