Customer Reviews

Gruhn's Guide To Vintage Guitars Updated and Revised Third Edition (Book)

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We all know that Gruhn's & Carter's Guides are the BIBLE of vintage guitars. The 1st & 2nd editions of these guides are indispensable. Period. Then why would they mess up such a good thing like they have with this new 3rd edition? In their attempt to create better "ease of use" they've done quite the opposite and made a mishmash of the excellent logic employed in the prior editions. In the prior editions, instruments were listed with the historical evolution of models shown and were collected/listed together in a like-minded way (with related and closely related instruments). This made sense and was helpful to the reader trying to discern just what the instrument they had was. Not so here - where the approach is just a sweeping case of listings by alphabetization. AND... to make matters worse, in prior editions they also wisely grouped things like electric guitars, archtops and acoustic guitars from the same maker in SEPARATE areas - not so here! Essentially, you've got the reptiles living with the birds and the mammals - not in their separate areas of the zoo where they belong! You've now got to wade through all the snakes when you're looking for the tigers! There are so many problems with this approach... The examples of problem areas I've found are simply endless - But here's a few from Gibson and Gretsch sections which are two of the worst offenders. The listing for the Gibson LG series acoustics is next to the Lonnie Mack Flying V (a solid-body) next to Several Les Paul variants. Don't even get me started on the Les Paul listings as they're scattered everywhere throughout the Gibson section...Or how about a Howard Roberts Fusion next to the Hummingbird acoustic?! The Pete Townshed SJ-200 LTD lives next to the Playboy "Hottie" SG and not with the other SJ/J200's - which again, are all mixed in with the electrics. Roy Smeck Stage Deluxe next to a Rudolph Schenker Flying V anyone? Both the Schenker and the Mack V's should be living with the other Flying V's and not at completely different ends of the Gibson section...

Here's the main problem with Gruhn's new approach: It might be useful if you ALREADY know what you have and just want a little more information... but this approach is super inefficient as an "identification guide" when you've got, say a Flying V, don't know which one it is and want to figure it out. With the layout of the 3rd edition you'd have to go through the entire Gibson listing (including all the acoustics, arch-top electrics etc. that are littered IN WITH the solid-body electrics) - checking the name of each guitar listed to see it it was #1 a Flying V and then #2 possibly the one you have and want information on. While not quite the chaos the Gibson section is (only due to the lesser number of models) you'll find the same problems with the Gretsch section where, once again, you've got all the electrics and acoustics combined. You'll find the late 70's BST "Beast" 5000 solid-body listed directly above the Burl Ives acoustic guitar from the early 1950's... Or the Deluxe Chet in with the letter "D" named instruments and the Super Chet (basically the deluxe version of the same guitar) hiding out towards the back of the section with the "S" named instruments. Stranger still, in a similar scenario with with an instrument that has both basic and more deluxe versions, we find Atkins Super Axe and the Atkins Axe residing next to each other on the same page. If you find yourself looking for Super Axe in "S" (which is where you'd go based on the logic they've employed here) there's a entry with no info other than "Super Axe" and directing you back to the "A" section...

This 3rd volume might be useful for the addition of some more recent models along with some other expanded information - BUT with the way they've now categorized things, you'll to dig through all sorts of totally unrelated instrument entries to find what you're after. I went and got a new copy of the 2nd edition and will only refer to this one if it looks like I need info on a recent guitar. George you're the best, but you can do better than this new approach. Buy the 2nd edition or keep your cash and wait for edition number 4...

The book is O.K. if you want to read a lot about a guitar and try to figure out if it is the one you have. Not enough pictures and not enough about great Japan guitars. Vintage Guitar Price Guide is what most of us want and more on imported guitars.

I have only used it for a few guitars but found it relatively thorough and useful.