“He said, ‘The thing was made wrong in the first place!’ I joked, ‘Let me see you build a vibrato contraption that works!’” How Merle Travis pushed Paul Bigsby to one-up Gibson with his iconic vibrato

Merle Travis seated in a studio with his guitar (left), a Bigsby vibrato system.

In its earliest days, Guitar World ran a number of columns authored by the late Merle Travis. One of the greatest country guitar players of all time, he was so influential that one of the more common styles of fingerpicking is named after him.

Travis was one of the ultimate “been there, done that” guitar guys (though he was always incredibly humble), and had stories aplenty, some of which he kindly shared to Guitar World readers when the magazine was still in its infancy.