The Fretboard Journal Guitar Podcast

This week, we talk to one of the unsung heroes in the world of boutique guitars, Bruce VanWart of Collings Guitars. Bruce is the first official Collings employee and the one person who has touched nearly every instrument the company has produced since the late '80s (almost 30,000 instruments). He reflects upon working alongside Bill Collings during the company's earliest days, talks about his process evaluating wood for the company's instruments and describes the 2018 re-launch of the Collings C-100. The C-100 was the brainchild of Bill Collings, a guitar with a dreadnought-sized lower bout with a skinnier upper bout and waist. Around 20 original C-100s were made in the mid-'90s. They were reintroduced at the 2018 NAMM Show. Here's a video featuring Bob Minner playing one of the first Collings C-100s made in 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3d7izbaBZE This episode is sponsored by Dying Breed Music, where there is an ever-growing inventory of vintage Martin and Gibson flattop guitars from the golden era.

Cory Wong is a force of nature: The thirty-something guitarist performs in Vulfpeck, the Fearless Flyers and on innumerable sessions. On this week's podcast, we talk to Cory about the Minneapolis music scene (including his interactions over the years with Prince), why he loves clean amps and green screens, his impressive right-hand technique, Blake Mills and more. Cory's second album, The Optimist, is available for pre-order with all sorts of cool perks: https://www.corywongmusic.com

Acclaimed guitar repair guru Tom Crandall of TR Crandall Guitars joins us to talk about the making of two gorgeous videos currently on fretboardjournal.com. In the videos, Tom is shown doing his magic to two vintage Stella guitars, a 12 and 6-string. Both guitars required extensive restoration work and a neck reset. Tom also talks about his background as a largely self-taught luthier, current projects he's working on and much more. https://trcrandall.com

This week, we welcome frequent FJ contributor Nathaniel Riverhorse Nakadate onto the podcast. Over the years, Riverhorse has penned some of our favorite articles for the FJ, including his features on Huey Long, Paul Buskirk and Darrell Scott. We talk to Riverhorse about the making of these features, his writing career (including his prolific work writing about fly fishing), his favorite guitars and much more.

Stephen Bishop - the guy behind pop hits "On and On," "It Might Be You" and "Save It For a Rainy Day" - joins us on this week's Fretboard Journal Podcast to talk guitars (especially the gorgeous instrument that he commissioned from Danny Ferrington), movie making, songwriting and more.

Sully Guitars founder Jon "Sully" Sullivan has had quite a journey: from growing up in Chicago, to attempting to be a rock star on the Sunset Strip, to building electric guitars full-time in Little Elm, Texas. Along the way, he raised a kid as a single parent, took on a few day jobs and eventually collaborated with one of his heroes, Grover Jackson. On this week's Fretboard Journal Podcast, we talk to Sully about all his evolution as a guitarmaker, his decision to manufacture a series of guitars in South Korea (Sully's Conspiracy line), his influential social media presence and a lot more. Sully Guitars: http://www.sullyguitars.com This episode is brought to you by Dying Breed Music: http://www.dyingbreedguitars.com The Fretboard Journal's first-ever Electric Guitar Annual will be out this August. Pre-order your copy now: https://shop.fretboardjournal.com/collections/all/products/fretboard-journal-electric-annual

On this week's Fretboard Journal Podcast, we talk to country blues guitarist Todd Albright. He tells us about his early infatuation with the acoustic guitar – from hearing Dave Van Ronk as a teenager to discovering Gamblin Woman Blues' by Paul Geremia. The Detroit-based musician also tells about being signed to Jack White's Third Man Records, his 12-string guitars – both built by Todd Cambio of Fraulini Guitars – and much more. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Mass Street Music. https://www.toddalbright.com http://fraulini.com https://shop.fretboardjournal.com https://massstreetmusic.com

On today's Fretboard Journal Podcast, we talk to two of the most promising young guitarmakers we know: Meredith Coloma of Coloma Guitars and Isaac Jang of Isaac Jang Guitars. Coloma talks to us about how she's found a unique audience for her guitars thanks to her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia. She also talks to us about the creation of Vancouver International Guitar Festival, a weekend-long celebration of handmade acoustic and electric guitars. We then talk to Jang, a young luthier who already has a multi-year wait list for his acoustics. Both of these insightful interviews took place thanks to the La Conner Guitar Festival, which took place Mother's Day Weekend in La Conner, Washington. This week's podcast is brought to you by Dying Breed Music.

This week, we talk to visual artist James A. Willis. Why are we talking to an artist on the FJ podcast? Because Willis has plenty of guitar and music-related projects under his belt. He's at least partially based in Nashville, where he's served as the "Artist in Residence" at Gibson, he's used guitar cases as canvases for his Saints series and he even worked at Zac Brown's estate. Most recently – and for reasons that still baffle us – Willis started a new podcast called James A. Willis reads the Fretboard Journal, where he talks to musician pals about the FJ and their guitar (and songwriting) habits. This episode is sponsored by our friends at Mass Street Music, based in Lawrence, Kansas. If you're into boutique guitars, old Martins or just need a reliable repair team to tune up your guitars, check them out. Check out James A Willis Reads the Fretboard Journal here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/james-a-willis-reads-fretboard-journal/id1355577648?mt=2

For our 200th episode of the Fretboard Journal Podcast, we take the show on the road and broadcast from our recent Fretboard Journal Live event from the Calton Case headquarters in Austin, Texas. You'll hear our live interview with Steve McCreary (Collings Guitars), music from Redd Volkaert, Paul Glasse and Kym Warner (Greencards) and hear our conversation with Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Dave Alvin about their new album, Downey to Lubbock. Closing things out, we hear a great tune with Anthony da Costa. This episode is sponsored by Austin's own Straight Frets Guitar Service, Exile Vancouver and Dying Breed Music! On behalf of all of us, thank you for listening to our podcast and for helping us reach this milestone! As always, if you like what we're up to, please leave us a review on iTunes and share the episode with your friends. Show notes 10:15 Steve McCreary (Collings Guitars / Waterloo Guitars) interview 16:10 Redd Volkaert / Paul Glasse 22:28 Kym Warner (Greencards) & Redd Volkaert 26:47 Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore interview 45:12 Anthony da Costa