After much debate and jockeying for position, I present to you the top 15 iconic guitars in the history of recorded music. This is not the list of most talented guitar players. It is a listing of the guitars...the wood and steel that changed music forever. The envelope please....
15. The Big B - Built by Gretsch for Ellas Bates McDaniels (Bo Diddly) in the 1950's.
14. Trigger - Willie Nelson's 1969 Martin Acoustic
13. Allman Brothers Special. Dickey Bett's 1957 Redtop LP (he later painted it gold)
12. Robert Johnson's 1928 Gibson L1. He got it at the Crossroads.
11. Ace Frehley's Standard Heritage Cherry Burst Les Paul
10. Chuck Berry's Cherry Red Gibson ES-345. Johnny B Good.
9. Jimi Hendrix' Right Hand Reverse Strung 60's era Fender Stratocaster. He made it sound like no one else had before.
8. Pete Townsend's Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. It's iconic because of the attitude and the smashed pieces on the stage floor. And no son...their song is not called "the CSI theme".
7. The Funk Machine. James Jamerson's 62 Fender Precision Bass. You may have never heard of him but you have heard him. This is (arguably) the greatest bass player to ever thump a G string. You heard this bass on these tracks just to name a few. I personally believe that the bass line on Stevie Wonder's "I was made to love her" is his greatest work. Props to a man who was kept in the shadows of Motown for most of his life but deserves much credit.
(CT...his life would make a great screenplay)
6. Jimmy Page's Gibson EDS-1275 SG Doubleneck. It's all the rage these days what with the reunion and everything. I wonder if Jimmy will need a back brace for the extra weight at his age?
5. Blackie - Eric Clapton. Clapton bought this guitar at the Sho-Bud guitar shop in Nashville for $100 (he bought three extra and gave them away as gifts to George Harrison, Pete Townsend, & Stevie Winwood). Blackie was auctioned off for $959,500 by Christies on June 24, 2004.
4. Lucille. B.B. King's Gibson ES-355. This is the legend of "the lady".
3. # 1 - Stevie Ray Vaughan's favorite guitar. If there is a guitar that had more personality of it's owner, I don't know of one. It seems that SRV and Number One (also known as his "first wife") were intertwined where you could't tell where one ended and the other began. This Strat is now in the safe of one Mr. Jimmy Vaughan.
2. Paul's Hoffner Bass - Iconic to the inth degree.
1. Frankenstein - Eddie Van Halen's Kramer. I will turn 40 this year and this guitar has to be tops for iconic in my book. Some of you will throw fruit at me for putting EVH on top but you can bite me. This guitar and it's funky stripes rocked my world.
14 comments:
You have failed to mention Brian Mays Red Special......that is one of the TRULY iconic guitars. Hand build by Brian and his father, the rewound Burns Trisonic pick ups........
CLASSIC!
What about Brian Mays Red Special?
How much more iconic can you get? Hand built by Brian and his father, re-wound Burns Trisonic pickups? Motorcycle parts used in the tremolo?
Seriously! How can that not be on the list?
You have failed to mention Brian Mays Red Special......that is one of the TRULY iconic guitars. Hand build by Brian and his father, the rewound Burns Trisonic pick ups........motorcycle parts used in the custon tremolo?
CLASSIC!
Richard. I do agree with you that the Brian May guitar is a classic and the Queen riffs (take "We are the Champions" for example) are certainly iconic....but honestly, when I was putting together this list...it didn't even cross my mind.
Thanks for the comments and for reading my funky stuff.
I am loving this post. What about Geddy Lee and the Steinberger bass or Dimebag Darrell and his Dean?
I am so glad that you included Jamerson on this list. His playing was phenomenal. You should check out the movie about the Funk Brothers, "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown" on DVD now. I agree that his story needs to be told to the world.
Howza bout the Gene Simmons Axe bass? And any one of the 1000 guitars played by Rick Neilsen of Cheap Trick? 'Course I'm partial to the Tit and the Boobs pink Fender P-Bass.
Jamerson left Motown and eventually moved to California. He played on some tracks there but the drugs were hard on him. There is some controversy over who got what credit for a couple of landmark songs. The other bass player in question was a lady by the name of Carol Kaye. She was called "the L.A. lady" and played on these tracks.
Surfin USA
California Girls
La Bamba
I got you babe
Suspicious Minds
Danke Shoen
She and Jamerson are credited with a few songs together and there arises the controversy.
Thanks for the post
those are good choices.
I can't beleive you are 40 and failed to mention The Les Paul that was played on 99% of ALL Led Zeppelin songs by one Mr. Jimmy Page. The guitar that Joe Walsh gave him, REMEMBER ?
Danny,
I am technically 39 and I already included the Gibson double neck and wasn't giving anyone two iconic guitars. My bad.
I was excited to see this list and the more I read, the more it turned into a list of great guitar players and not a list of iconic guitars.
We're missing:
Any of Rick Neilson's guitars.
Angus Young's SG
Paul Stanley's guitar
Brian May's guitar
I couldn't tell you the difference between Pete Townsends Les Paul and Ace Frehley's. Or Hendrix' and SRV.
I couldn't disagree more with the last comment. Willie Nelson is not a great guitar player but that guitar certainly is iconic. Ace Frehley's Les Paul is the one he set on fire during his solo. Hendrix's upside down Strat is totally iconic as is the well worn guitar belonging to Stevie Ray with the giant SRV letters affixed to it.
Iconic is totally subjective. I had an Angus Young poster on my wall as a kid so the red SG is missing from this list.
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