Who would have thought the electric bass guitar with its frets removed would transcend the rhythm section to become one of the most instantly recognizable sounds in all of music? From the jazz genius of Jaco Pastorius and the funk/punk abandon of...

This book takes us back to Fender's beginnings with the most comprehensive collection of Fender historical photos, product shots, patent drawings, and advertising materials ever published. Whether you are a musician, a lover of Fender lore, an...

Until the launch of the Flying V and Explorer in 1958, electric guitars were supposed to look like...guitars. Suddenly, Gibson turned conventional design upside down, almost literally, by using straight lines and angular body shapes, changing the...

Surf Beat is the first book to tell the story of the birth of surf music, and its persistent survival and reinvention in the face of decades of dismissal as a mere cultural aberration.Conventional wisdom posits that rock 'n' roll languished in the...

Leo Fender's company changed the course of popular music in 1954 when they introduced the Stratocaster. Since then, the Strat has been played by countless guitarists, from Jimi Hendrix to Buddy Guy and Jeff Beck. In this book, interviews with...