The Guitar & Amp Sourcebook-Review
by Tim Wenger
Most musicians share at least a mild interest in the history of their instrument, and for guitarists of all styles, there has not been a better book on the history of their passion than Mike Abbott’s “The Guitar & Amp Sourcebook” out now from Thunder Bay Press.
Abbott discusses in great detail, through pictures and text, the history of the most iconic guitars and amps that have graced the scene since the beginning of the nineteenth century. He even outlines the evolution of the guitar, from how we know it today, all the way back to the first known stringed instrument, the African “musical bow” from 13,000 BC. The guitar is dissected throughout each of its many phases of evolution all the way up to what we know today.
One of the many unique features of the book is the vintage instrument catalogue from past decades, providing insight on the popularity and price of the classic guitars.
Compiling the info on the instruments took about five or six months, according to Abbott. “Once we went through the vetting process, and I showed them some writing samples, we went ahead and signed contacts. Then I had to pick over 700 instruments. Just picking them took a month and a half or so.”
Abbott is a lifelong musician, and an accomplished guitarist, so he came into the project with a good head of knowledge. “I knew a lot about these instruments, especially the fifties Fender and Gibson amps and guitars, and the sixties,” Abbott says. “The research got real heavy when I had to delve back further into the early nineteen hundreds.”
Featured throughout the book are instrument comparisons, such as the 1951 Fender Precision Bass vs. the 1953 Gibson Electric Bass, outlining the differences (and similarities) between the two and why a certain type of player may prefer one over the other.
He explains that researching the origins of the electric guitar was the most fascinating part of the project. “The book started as a look at, and compiling of, the most revolutionary instruments of the past 100 years,” Abbott says. “As I talked to people and did my research, it turned into the who, what, where, why, and how of guitar and amp development from the beginning of the 1900s. The inner workings between companies and players, that’s the most interesting piece. The story behind the instruments.”
The research came, as might be expected, not only from books but from people who, like Abbott, are lifelong players and industry people. The book, in addition to being amazingly well illustrated, is full of the history and culture surrounding the instruments explaining everything from how they came to be to who played them.
“It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Abbott says. “Even though it was an absolutely inspiring and fascinating process, it was also so difficult.”
Abbott began playing big-band jazz gigs around Denver at the age of sixteen. He attended the University of Miami where he studied jazz, and after college moved to New York to pursue his passion. “I was a diehard jazz player when I moved to New York,” he says. “I got involved with some other genres, like rock-n-roll, the grunge thing was happening, and playing things as diverse as western swing.”
In addition to playing music, he teaches guitar and runs a website called AccessRock.com. “Access Rock I started as a branch of what I wanted to do teaching wise,” Abbott says. The site launched in 2001. “I wanted to reach out to a larger audience. I felt strongly about how guitar players can learn, and how they can learn in an easier way.” The site features online lessons on everything from strumming to theory, and provides a forum where users can ask questions about everything guitar related to an expert. “Over the years, I’ve developed different strategies for teaching people how to play.”
In the future, he plans to add video lessons to the site. The site’s experts include Mark Tenorio of Tenorio Werx here in Denver, and a company called Analog Brothers, a boutique amplifier company out of Pennsylvania that helps with amp-related problems.
Purchase the book and read excerpts at guitarsourcebook.com.
Category: Buzzworthy
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