(Reference). This book gives a complete and illustrated history of the development of Rickenbacker instruments from 1931 to the present. Rickenbacker is the only book of its kind to chronicle the history of the company who in 1931 introduced electric instruments to the world. The book provides information and full-color photos of the many artists who have used and are using Rickenbacker instruments. Rickenbacker collectors will find this book invaluable as it contains recently discovered accurate facts previously unavailable to researchers.

When the Byrds recorded their hit version of Dylan's “Mr. Tambourine Man ” they popularized a new sound in pop music: the electric 12-string guitar. Rickenbacker is the guitar maker that brought the electric 12-string to market and has since been almost single-handedly responsible for establishing what such a guitar should do. The California company gave one of its earliest 12-strings to George Harrison of the Beatles on the group's first tour of the United States in 1964. He immediately used it live and in the studio and showed off the sound of electric jangle to the rest of the world. This book tells the story of those heady days in the '60s, of the competitors who tried and failed to match the sound, and of the instrument's continuing production by Rickenbacker and use by many modern guitarists. Complete with high-quality photos and exclusive interviews with many of the 12-string's leading players, this is the best guide yet to the history of the sound of jingle-jangle.

(Book). Most musicians are familiar with the famous Bigsby Vibrato, but not as many know about the wonderful guitars that Paul Bigsby built in the 1940s. Bigsby, who was responsible for developing and refining the pedal steel guitar, also built the first modern solid body electric guitar for Merle Travis in 1948, predating Leo Fender and Gibson's Les Paul by a number of years. The Story of Paul A. Bigsby tells how Bigsby influenced Fender and Gibson, as well as a number of other guitar manufacturers, in building techniques and design. This deluxe illustrated coffee table book contains over 300 color and black & white photos. Many of these have not previously been published, and over 50 are actual Bigsby instrument photos taken by fine arts photographer Greg Morgan. The book also comes with an audio CD of Paul Bigsby, recorded in the late 1950s, telling stories of his business.

Chronicles the Beatles' use of instruments from 1956 through 1970, including photographs and discussion about Paul's 1963 Hofner 500/1 violin bass, John's Rickenbacker 325 12-string, and George's Gibson Les Paul.

Telling the story of the electric guitar and the first successful company based solely on electric instruments, a complete history includes exclusive color photographs of rare and outstanding models and lists specifications for every model since 1953. IP.

THE RICKENBACKER ELECTRIC BASS: 50 YEARS AT THE BOTTOM SECOND EDITION

In 1982, Fender revived an old guitar-string name for its new line of Japanese-made electric guitars. Millions of guitars later, and celebrating its 30th anniversary, Squier is almost as important to the company as the main Fender brand. Guitar pundit Tony Bacon reveals the stories behind the original (and collectible) Japanese-made Squier Series models, the way that Fender has often been more adventurous and experimental with Squier, away from its protected main brand, and the famous musicians who have chosen to play Squier instruments, from Courtney Love and her Venus model to blink-182's Tom DeLonge and his one-pickup/one-control signature Stratocaster. Full of the luscious pictures, absorbing narrative, and collector's data that characterize Bacon's best-selling instrument books, Squier Electrics is the only guide to one of the most popular guitar brands of recent times.

The inspiration for the Play It Loud exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art "Every guitar player will want to read this book twice. And even the casual music fan will find a thrilling narrative that weaves together cultural history, musical history, race, politics, business case studies, advertising, and technological discovery." —Daniel Levitin, Wall Street Journal For generations the electric guitar has been an international symbol of freedom, danger, rebellion, and hedonism. In Play It Loud, veteran music journalists Brad Tolinski and Alan di Perna bring the history of this iconic instrument to roaring life. It's a story of inventors and iconoclasts, of scam artists, prodigies, and mythologizers as varied and original as the instruments they spawned. Play It Loud uses twelve landmark guitars—each of them artistic milestones in their own right—to illustrate the conflict and passion the instruments have inspired. It introduces Leo Fender, a man who couldn't play a note but whose innovations helped transform the guitar into the explosive sound machine it is today. Some of the most significant social movements of the twentieth century are indebted to the guitar: It was an essential element in the fight for racial equality in the entertainment industry; a mirror to the rise of the teenager as social force; a linchpin of punk's sound and ethos. And today the guitar has come full circle, with contemporary titans such as Jack White of The White Stripes, Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent), and Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys bringing some of the earliest electric guitar forms back to the limelight. Featuring interviews with Les Paul, Keith Richards, Carlos Santana, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, and dozens more players and creators, Play It Loud is the story of how a band of innovators transformed an idea into a revolution.

Play It Loud celebrates the musical instruments that gave rock and roll its signature sound. Seven engrossing essays by veteran music journalists and scholars discuss the technical developments that fostered rock’s seductive riffs and driving rhythms; the evolution of the classic lineup of two guitars, bass, and drums; the thrilling innovations and expanded instrumentation musicians have explored to achieve unique effects; the powerful visual impact instruments have had; and the essential role they have played in the most memorable moments of rock and roll history. Abundant photographs depict rock’s most iconic instruments—including Jerry Lee Lewis’s baby grand piano, Chuck Berry’s Gibson ES-350T guitar, John Lennon’s twelve-string Rickenbacker 325, Keith Moon’s drum set, and the white Stratocaster Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock—both in performance and as works of art in their own right. Produced in collaboration with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this astounding book goes behind the music to offer a rare, in-depth look at the instruments that inspired the musicians and made possible the songs we know and love.

The dawn of folk rock comes to life in Jerry Burgan’s unforgettable memoir of the pre-psychedelic 1960s and the summer that changed everything. As a naïve folksinger from Pomona, California, Burgan was thrust to the forefront of the counterculture and its aftermath. The Byrds, the Rolling Stones, the Mamas and Papas, Barry McGuire, Bo Diddley and many others make appearances in this 50th Anniversary reminiscence by the surviving cofounder of WE FIVE, the San Francisco electro-folk ensemble whose million-seller, "You Were On My Mind,” entered the world two months before Bob Dylan plugged in an electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival. Vying with the Byrds to record the first folk-rock hit, Burgan and his lifelong friend Mike Stewart embarked on a road they thought well paved by the latter's older brother, Kingston Trio member John Stewart. Little did they realize that they would join the largest-ever American generation in an ecstatic, sometimes tortured, journey of invention and disillusion. Wounds to Bind bears witness to a lost and hopeful convergence in American history—that missing link between the folk and rock eras—when Bob Dylan and Sammy Davis Jr. were played on the same radio station in the same hour. A survivor of the human realignments, tragedies and triumphs that followed, Burgan tracks down the demons that drove the genius of We Five cofounder Mike Stewart and sheds light on the 40-year enigma of what became of the band’s reclusive lead singer, Beverly Bivens, a forerunner of Grace Slick, Linda Ronstadt, and Stevie Nicks.