The Fretboard Journal is unlike any guitar magazine you’ve ever held: Barely any ads, more coffee table book than magazine. Join us as we celebrate our 20th year of publishing.
Our 55th edition has some heavy hitters: One of the gear world’s unsung heroes; an expat archtop maven; a few of the Americana music’s greatest singer-songwriters; and profiles of some of our favorite makers. Contributors include longtime, trusted staff of the magazine, as well as some younger, newer team members like Cameron Knowler and Sofia Wolfson (both of which you can meet at the Fretboard Summit this August!).
Jim D’Addario is an industry leader. He’s also, it turns out, quite a tinkerer. Fretboard Journal publisher Jason Verlinde sits down with the D’Addario founder for a lengthy interview about inventing and innovation. Though we tend not to romanticize string-building the way we do guitarmaking, Jim’s story is as riveting as any luthier’s.
Fretboard Journal favorite Cameron Knowler interviews Jake Xerxes Fussell. They discuss Fussell’s new record When I’m Called (out on Fat Possum Records), which has musical contributions from Blake Mills and Joe Westerlund. They also talk through Fussell’s arrangement process, for any reader who is particularly interested in how an artist builds a full recording out of an initial seed of a song.
Luthier Bryant Trenier has been chasing the perfect archtop guitar for decades now. After moving across the country, he’s now relocated to France. As writer Tyler Friedman discovers, it’s the ideal spot for a maker with a decidely Old World vibe.
In January of 2024, Sofia Wolfson visited Adrianne Lenker (Big Thief) in the Beggars Music Group office in Soho to talk about her new album, Bright Future, a conversation which unraveled into a discussion of art, music, guitars, spirituality, and more. Lenker gives readers an in-depth view into her writing and creative process.
When is a guitar more than just a guitar? Musician Daniel Marcus Clark gives us a personal essay on discovering and obsessing over an elusive Aristone archtop guitar in, of all places, a menswear store on the south coast of England.
Matt Chambers speaks with father/son mandolin building duo Will and Wes Wienman, whose family history in the industry dates back to the 1970s. Chambers writes about the Wienman process, some of their most coveted instruments, and the importance of family.
Yes, the banjo gets some love in this edition, too. Kurt B. Reighley interviews musician Joe Troop, who tells us about global influences on his playing and his decade spent living in Argentina. Over the years, Troop has refined his style to include musical traditions from around the world to reflect political messages in his music, which has granted him Grammy-nominated recognition.
Eric Pooley sits down with the immensely talented Sarah Jarosz. We hear about her many albums and side projects over the years, her time working on NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion and Live From Here, that Brock octave mandolin, as well as crossing paths with David Crosby (who tweeted, back in 2020: “Sarah is so good it just freaks me [out] a little.”)
There’s a lot to Mule Guitar’s Matt Eich. Writer Noah Lekas interviews Matt about his time spent at Huss & Dalton, his interest in resonators, life, guitar history and more.
Thanks to our community of subscribers, contributors, and sponsors for helping make this issue a reality.
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