A 1965 Fender Stratocaster that was set ablaze during one of the guitar legend's performances at London's Finsbury Astoria in March of 1967 is going up for auction in London later this year.

After the show, the guitarist had to be rushed to the hospital with burns on his hands. The injuries turned out to be minor, but the iconic value of the performance will never be forgotten.

Some great photos from a builder who creates guitars and banjos from ordinary household items. These aren't slapped together instruments. The builder is clearly a very skilled luthier who puts a lot of thought and planning into the build process. Now we just wish we could hear one!

As we reported earlier, the initial leg of Van Halen's most recent tour had to be postponed so that Ed could undergo treatment for an unspecified medical condition. We're happy to report that the tour resumed to largely favorable reviews and has now wrapped up with the closing show in Grand Rapids Michigan today.
Grand Rapids native, Tom Weber has had the tough, but enviable job of being Ed's lead guitar tech for the tour. In an article on MLive.com, Tom shares his experiences maintaining the legendary player's guitars. Says Tom:

The C.F. Martin guitar company in Nazareth, PA is a small guitar manufacturer of acoustic guitars. Perhaps you've heard of them?
This year they celebrate their 175th year of building guitars. To say the company is still going strong might be understating it just a little bit. Martin has been known as the choice manufacturer of acoustic guitars practically since they incorporated back in the 1830s.

Police in Lewiston Maine are looking for a shoplifter who (along with two accomplices) stole a Fender Stratocaster from the Music Maniac store at the Lewiston Mall in a well.. unusual way.

Cops say the guy shoved the Strat down his pants and pulled a sweatshirt over it before walking (quite stiffly we imagine!) out of the store.

Apparently this has happened before. In 2006 a man did the same thing but was apprehended, still with the guitar in his pants.

Canadian guitarist Jeff Healey died on March 2nd at the age of 41 after a life long battle with cancer. Blind since the age of 1 from a rare form of retinal cancer known as Retinoblastoma, Jeff taught himself to play with an unusual style of laying the guitar across his lap.

Van Halen has postponed four dates of their reunion tour until next month after it was announced that Eddie Van Halen is entering the hospital for a series of "comprehensive medical tests."