The Fretboard Journal’s Wintergrass 2014 workshop with Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge began with a simple enough premise: let two of our favorite virtuosos have fun on a couple dozen vintage guitars. All told, we gathered a wide array of rare vintage instruments for them to try out, from the 1885 Martin 0-28 that Lage grabbed for his first tune to a 17″ Gibson L-5 that formerly belonged to Jack Benny’s bandleader. Included were numerous pre-war Martins, Gibsons, Washburns and even a Larson Bros. guitar.

Needless to say, during the set Lage and Eldridge proved why they are two of the most exciting acoustic guitarists alive today (please go see the duo on tour if you can). And both did a great job of describing what made each instrument special. When all is said and done, the 60-minute workshop crept towards the 90-minute mark. Here it is, in its entirety.

Filmed by Dale Adkins, Fred Forssell, Petra Morris and David Patterson.

Editing by Scott Krashan.

Huge thanks to Wintergrass for letting us curate this stage just for us guitar geeks!