Resources

Saturday, May 16, 2026

Vintage Instruments On Handa-McGraw International cuts


H.M.I. Vintage Instruments Part 1

It occurred to me that many of our videos on YouTube and elsewhere were recorded using what are now vintage instruments. These kinds of video shorts or long length are fairly common on YouTube but most of these here are in a commercially recorded context and are now available on Spotify and elsewhere. They're not intended to be definitive demos of the instruments capabilities or sound, but another bit of data to add to any exploration on a guitar type.

Mark McGraw playing his early 70s Gibson J-55 (two shorts)



Mark McGraw on a 90s era (approx) Martin 12 string


H.M.I. Texas style Blues on a 1971 Standard Telecaster (with rewound front PU). In a D tuning capo'd.


Mark McGraw on an H.M.I. cut playing a late 50s Gibson ES-330.


1961 Gibson 6 string LG-0 Mohogany top



1933 Gibson L-55 6-string Archtop


Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Latest Video For The Quitturz On Kindle Unlimited

Latest short for The Quitturz by Al Handa #punk #newwave #alternative #kindle #sanfrancisco

Thursday, March 12, 2026

Delta Snake Review Anthologies Coming in April


Coming in April:

The Delta Snake Anthology Volume 1 and 2. Collected articles, reviews, humor, essays, art from 1981 in ebook format on Amazon books. Volume 3 will follow in May and succeeding volumes when completed. Each will also feature photos and images from 1981 to 2026.

The “Delta Snake Review” began in 1981 as a small print newsletter/magazine focused on Blues and Jazz. Founded by Al Handa, it served as a grassroots outlet for record reviews, poetry, columns and artist news. This early incarnation captured the DIY spirit of the time, circulating among musicians, fans, other Blues publications and subscribers before evolving through the decades—including transitions to an eZine format in the 1990s and becoming one of the pioneering web pages dedicated to Blues, Jazz, poetry and humor.

In the digital age, the Delta Snake Review was reborn as a blog in 2011 (with active archiving and content visible from that period onward), shifting to an online archive for musical gear reviews, essays, and music history pieces. Hosted on platforms like Blogger, it now features in-depth guitar and instrument reviews—often with personal anecdotes and audio context—alongside broader articles on artists and genres. Content generally premieres on X (under @alhanda) before being preserved on archive sites on Blogger and Substack (starting in April), maintaining its long-running tradition as an independent, enthusiast-driven publication that bridges decades of music culture from print origins to modern blogging.

Delta Snake Review articles and reviews run on X (approximately 195,000 followers), and the Blogger archives (up to 5,000 monthly visits, over a million total visits). Starting in April, a new site will be established on Substack, also with Podcast/audio distribution to Clapper (135,000 followers), Bluesky (7000 followers), TikTok (6500 followers) and YouTube (4,920 subscribers).

The Delta Snake Review is a blog/online publication that doesn’t solicit or accept advertising, review copies or PR packages. It can be contacted by email at deltasnake@yahoo.com.

Al Handa has digital music (recorded as Handa-McGraw International) and four books on Amazon: The Quitturz, On The Road With Al & Ivy (anthology and novel) and Knee Deep In Glory. His most current print work is on X (@alhanda) and Substack starting in April. His On The Road With Al & Ivy podcast is on YouTube and other sites.