The Man Who Invented the Boutique Amp: The Tragic Genius of Bob Crooks
Before Dumble was a household name, and before Mesa/Boogie revolutionized the high-gain stack, there was Standel.

In today’s video, we’re diving into the legendary twenty-year original run of Bob Crooks, the man who provided the sonic blueprint for the 1950s, yet spent his final years feeling like the industry had robbed him blind.

High Fidelity in a Low-Fi World
From his early days at Lockheed to his "almost" collaboration with Paul Bigsby, Bob Crooks didn't just build amplifiers; he engineered precision instruments. We explore how Standel became the "must-have" rig for the Mount Rushmore of 1950s legends, providing the pristine, hi-fi clarity demanded by icons like Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, Joe Maphis, Speedy West, and Buddy Emmons.

The Innovations Leo Fender "Borrowed"
According to guitar historian Deke Dickerson, Crooks was a man fueled by deep-seated bitterness in his later years. The reason? Many of the features we now consider "Golden Era" standards were pioneered in the Standel workshop long before they appeared in Fullerton. We're talking about:

Separate Treble and Bass controls (at a time when most amps had a single "Tone" knob).

Forward-facing controls for ease of use on stage.

Tolex covering and Piggyback head/cab designs.

The integration of premium JBL speakers as a standard.

The Great Pivot: Tubes to Transistors
We also examine Crooks’ controversial shift in the early 1960s. As an early adopter of hybrid and eventually full solid-state circuitry, Crooks inadvertently chased "perfect" clean headroom just as the rest of the world was falling in love with the warmth of tube distortion. It was a classic case of a genius being too right for the wrong era.

The Rebirth: 1997 to Today
Finally, we cover the modern resurrection of the brand.

1997: The initial rebirth with Danny McKinney and Bob Crooks himself back at the helm, focusing on the legendary 25L15.

2023: The new chapter under Owen Duffy, who has begun producing reissues of Standel’s later catalog, bringing much-needed attention to the overlooked masterpieces of the brand’s twilight years.

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The lowdown on Fender's concert at the historic Ryman Auditorium to celebrate the Telecaster's 75th Anniversary.  

What a night at the Mother Church of Country Music. On May 4th, I had the honor of hosting and performing at the Tele Town concert celebrating 75 years of the legendary Fender Telecaster at the historic Ryman Auditorium.

This recap captures some of the unforgettable moments from an incredible evening filled with world-class players, iconic tones, deep musical history, and a whole lot of Telecaster magic. From blazing solos to emotional tributes, the night brought together generations of artists who have helped shape the sound of modern guitar music.

Featuring performances and appearances from an all-star lineup including Brad Paisley, Brent Mason, Brothers Osborne, James Burton, Ricky Skaggs, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Zach Top, Guthrie Trapp, Trey Hensley, Jack White, Billy Gibbons, and many more.

Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate the instrument that changed music forever. The Telecaster’s story is still being written, and this night was proof that its spirit is alive and well.

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Most players hit a wall the same way, cycling through the same licks, searching for something new, and ending up lost in endless videos.

Here’s a better way.

In this video, we break out of that loop by using a simple, lifelong skill:
take a song you love, learn the melody, and learn how to harmonize it.

No tabs. No shortcuts. No spoon-feeding.

This is how you build real musical independence, and actually start growing every time you pick up the guitar.

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Most players settle for whatever string set is on the shelf, but I’ve been piecing together custom sets since the early ’90s. In this video, I build my perfect custom string sets using my preferred D'Addario NYXL strings through their Custom String Shop.

For my 1957 Fender Esquire, I dialed in a set gauged 10, 12, 16, 24, 34, 44 balanced for feel, tension, and snap. It’s based on their NYXL 9.5–44 set, but with slightly more robust high E and B strings.

Then I went further, building a baritone NYXL set that doesn’t normally exist, with gauges 14, 18, 24, 44, 56, 70, including an unwound 3rd string for better bending and overall playability.

The best part? D'Addario’s Custom String Shop lets you spec everything exactly how you want, and the sets show up beautifully packaged with your name on them.

If you’ve ever thought, “these strings are close… but not quite right,” this is how you fix it.

www.truetone.com

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Before the Telecaster… before the Les Paul & the Strat… there was Bigsby.

In this video, we take a deep dive into a 1949 Bigsby electric guitar, one of the earliest solid-body electrics ever made, and a true cornerstone in the evolution of the modern guitar. Built by Paul Bigsby, these instruments weren’t mass-produced, they were individually handcrafted works of art.

Bigsby guitars are incredibly rare, as he built around 27 guitars from the mid-1940s through the late 1950s. Each one was custom-made, often for top-tier players, making them some of the most elusive and historically significant electric guitars in existence.

Most famously associated with Merle Travis, Bigsby’s designs introduced features that would later define the electric guitar as we know it, including a solid body, a six-on-a-side headstock, and a sleek, functional aesthetic that clearly influenced Leo Fender and the birth of the Fender Telecaster.

This particular instrument has its own incredible story. Created on August 7, 1949, this guitar was built by Paul specifically to be photographed for one of his early catalogs. Because of that, collectors have long referred to it as “the catalog guitar.”

Even more special, the owner generously allowed me to take the instrument to my studio for a couple of hours so I could film this episode. Getting hands-on time with a guitar like this is a rare opportunity, and I’m excited to share it with you.

www.truetone.com

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Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac
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Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac
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Best known for his longtime work with Delbert McClinton, James Pennebaker has been one of the most tasteful and versatile guitarists in Nashville for decades. Starting his professional career at just 19 years old with McClinton, he went on to become a key part of the band on and off for more than forty years.

But Pennebaker is far more than just a sideman. He’s a true multi-instrumentalist—equally comfortable on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, pedal steel, fiddle, mandolin, and more. Over the years he’s recorded and performed with artists like John Fogerty, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Lee Roy Parnell, and many others.

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The only Gibson model I’ve ever really connected with is the ES-335. While I’ve always gravitated toward Fender, the 335 is one Gibson that I think absolutely got right. Much like the Fender Telecaster, it’s simply a brilliant piece of guitar design.

The magic of the 335 is in how balanced the concept is. The semi-hollow body combined with the center block gives you the warmth and air of a hollowbody while still delivering the sustain, focus, and feedback resistance of a solidbody. The result is a guitar that can cover an incredible amount of musical ground. Blues, jazz, country, rock,  a great 335 seems to sit comfortably in all of those spaces.

In this video, I spend some time talking about what makes the ES-335 such a successful design and why it continues to be one of the most versatile electric guitars ever built. I’m using a vintage 1964 ES-335 as the reference point, a guitar from Gibson’s golden era that really shows the design at its best.

We also compare it to a more recent ’63 reissue built during the Gibson Memphis years to see how modern versions stack up against a true vintage example.

And because not everyone is shopping in the vintage market, we also talk about some of the more affordable ES-335-style options out there today that capture a lot of the same spirit and sound without the vintage price tag.

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In this episode, Joe Spann and I dive deep into the legacy of Don Rich and one of the most fascinating lost instruments in Fender history, his 1964 Gold Sparkle Fender Custom Telecaster.

Joe breaks down exactly how Fender created the Gold Sparkle finish using crushed mirror material, why it was so visually striking under stage lights, and how unusual the process was for the era. We also discuss the many Buck Owens hits Don Rich recorded while using this Telecaster, and how central it was to his tone, image, and the Bakersfield sound.

Finally, we explore the leading theories behind how the guitar disappeared, when it was last seen, why it was likely never recovered, and what makes it one of the great “what if” stories in vintage guitar history.

This is a deep-dive into Don Rich’s influence, Fender’s experimental finishes, and one legendary Telecaster that vanished without a trace.

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We went behind the scenes at Gruhn Guitars in Nashville for a tour of the 'Tele Vault' with legendary vintage archivist and researcher Joe Spann.

We aren't just looking at vintage guitars; we’re looking at the DNA of the Fender company. Joe walks us through the history and technical specs of some of the most significant instruments on the planet, including George Fullerton's personal 1949 prototype, a guitar that predates the Broadcaster and Telecaster as we know it.

The Lineup:

1949 Fender Prototype: George Fullerton’s personal guitar.

1951 Nocaster: The bridge between the Broadcaster and the Telecaster.

1963 Custom Esquire: A minimalist masterpiece in rare Custom trim.

1967 Custom Telecaster: Featuring a rare factory-installed Bigsby.

1967 Telecaster: A pristine late-60s classic.

Massive thanks to Joe Spann and the team at Gruhn Guitars for opening the vault for us.

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Ever heard a song that has a shimmering, "angelic" jangle that sits perfectly above a mix? Or how Buddy Miller creates those haunting, rootsy textures on songs like Lucinda Williams' "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road," or Daniel Lanois on Emmylou's Wrecking Ball album?

The answer isn't a mandolin, it’s the Octave 12-string guitar (often called a mando-guitar). In this video, we’re diving into the world of these high-tuned wonders, exploring the gear, the tuning, and the legendary players who made them a staple of modern atmospheric production.

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