Iconic guitars

[mikecontactmusic]

Hendrix's Strat, Slash's Les Paul, Angus Young's SG, Princes Cloud. Some of the most iconic guitars of all time, but which is the most iconic? Would love to hear all of your suggestions on this topic to find out really which is the most iconic guitar.  arty07:  :guitarplayer2:  :guitaristgif:

 

[Cagey]

I would suggest that more people would recognize Eddie VanHalen's guitar than any other. SRV's Strat is pretty easy to bring to mind as well.

 

[swarfrat]

The very fact that you mentioned "Some other Dude's LES PAUL" in this thread is richly ironic. I'm not a big LP fan (the guitar), but seriously,  what other guitar has signature models of signature models?

 

[Day-mun]

Welcome to the forum!

I gotta vote for Stevie's Number One; there just isn't anything like it, really... except for maybe Rory's un-burst Strat.

These fiddles were played and loved nearly to death, and the customizing that occured over the years was mostly done out of keepin' 'em goin', -with a little vanity mixed in (the "SRV" stickers), but still, it was mostly about continued function... like duct-tape and baling wire kind of changes. -Motel room surgeries.

Anyway, the unique-ness of instruments that emerges like that is always admirable and beautifully ugly in a way that only other players (in most cases) can truly appreciate. There are a bunch of instruments that fit this catagory, i.e.: Clapton's Blackie, Willie's Trigger, Sheehan's Wife, just to name a few, but I think the SRV #1 is the most recognizable.

-My huge opinion.

 

[Day-mun]

Cagey's right, EVH's Frankenstein hasta be near (-if not at) the top of the list!

 

[Cagey]

I just remembered B.B.King's "Lucille" as well.

 

[Day-mun]

I just remembered B.B.King's "Lucille" as well.

Meh. A black ES something-something... arch-top w/a buncha knobs and f-holes; seen one ya seen 'em all.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, you're probably right. It's just the first thing that comes to mind when I see one of those. But, I'm an old fart. Most folks these days might not make the connection.

 

[Great Ape]

Then there's Albert Collin's Tele: ashtray cover left on bridge, binding front & back on a clearcoated ash body....Gilmour's black Strat...Uli John Roth's otherworldly Whatchamacallit...
Eric Sardina's thin-bodied electric resonator...Clapton's hand painted SG ' The Fool'...

 

[drewfx]

There's a gazillion of them.

Just off the top of my head:

Bo Diddley's Gretsch
Les Paul's Log
Bruce Springsteens's Esquire
Steve Howe's ES175D (or his Portuguese 12 string for that matter)
Jimmy Page's #1 and #2 LP's and his ES 1275 doubleneck
Jerry Garcia's Tiger
Steve Vai's JEM
Pete Townshend's SG and numbered LP Deluxes
Roger McGuinn's 12 string Ric

and if we include basses:

John Entwistle's "slab" P Bass, Fenderbirds, Alembic Expoiters and Buzzards
Chris Squire's Ric
Bootsie's Star
Gene Simmon's Axe
Paul McCartney's Hofner violin bass

I could go on.

 

[bagman67]

Neil Young's Old Black.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Black

 

[stratamania]

I wonder if it's even possible to single out just one. To add some more.

Did we have Brian Mays self made guitar yet ?

The Uli Jon Roth one, mentioned earlier is the Sky guitar.

Randy Rhoads, polka dot V

Yngwie's Duck.

Nigel Tufnels Marshall stack guitar.

Rick Nielsens multi necked Hamer.

Michael Schenkers V

Steve Morse's Frankentele.

There are so many of them.

 

[Day-mun]

...Clapton's hand painted SG ' The Fool'...

That one made the cover of "Star Guitars". It is a fairly cool coffee table book I got from my brother a while back; the forward is by Billy Gibbons... a fun one to thumb through.

KG, I like BB, and you're totally right about that; everytime I see a Gibson ES-something-or-other (especially if it's got a black lacquer finish) I think of the King of Blues... the player is so iconic that the guitar gets icon-status by proxy.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

EVH's Frankenstein
and
Brian May's Red Special.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

 

[bagman67]

Clarence White's original B-bendin' '54 Telecaster, now owned (and regularly played) by Marty Stuart, I believe:

In action here:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q21BF38W3Gs#t

 

[Day-mun]

Why does it say "Hank" on that picture of Buddy Holly?  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[Cagey]

It may be a marketing weenie trick. Buddy Holly was a childhood star, beginning with covering a Hank Snow tune. Perhaps that was a misleading advertisement. Or, it could be that's a young picture of Hank Marvin, who was a Holly impersonator. For as famous and influential as Mr. Holly is/was, he had a surprisingly short career.

 

[swarfrat]

Cheap Trick's 5 necked guitar?

 

[Wolfie351]

Among guitarists, every single one of the above would be instantly recognizable.  But, to a non-musician I think the 5150 guitar is pretty much the only one that would be generally known.  But, I'll add a few others

Satriani's Chrome Ibanez
Dick Dale's Strat
Santana's Gibson DC, later PRS model
George Lynch's tiger stripe, skull & bones & kamikaze

That last one is pretty impressive since Lynch has those three models and others still in production even though he hasn't even had a gold album in a couple decades.