Ever since Chuck Berry hot-wired the "jump blues" sound in the 1950s, the electric guitar has been the soul of rock-and-roll. Sixty years later, "the axe" is still the defining instrument of the genre. Over the years, certain guitars have taken on a mythic quality; in some cases, they're as coveted and beloved as the musicians who play them. Take a look back at some of the most iconic guitars to ever preach the gospel of rock.
B.B. King - "Lucille"
Ask any music fan to make a list of famous guitars, and they’ll likely start with B.B. King’s beloved Lucille. King’s old lady was a Gibson semi-hollow body ES-355, and she was named for a woman who, in a roundabout way, sparked a club fire that nearly claimed the musician’s life. King had safely escaped the conflagration, but when he realized he’d left his guitar inside, he rushed back into the collapsing establishment to rescue it. King ran through many Gibsons over the years, but each one bore the moniker "Lucille."
Jimi Hendrix - Fender Stratocaster
A right-handed Fender Stratocaster strung upside down for a left-handed mother-loving genius named Jimi Hendrix. There were great, celebrated guitarists prior to Hendrix, but none of them were worshipped as gods. Then again, none of them could play a Fender Strat backward, over their head or with their freaking teeth. And they damn sure never lit their instrument on fire after playing the show of their life at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. That’s where the Hendrix legend began. It’s impossible to strap one over your shoulder and not strike the opening three barre chords to "All Along the Watchtower."
Rick Nielsen - Five-Neck Hamer
The eccentric lead guitarist of Cheap Trick has played live with multiple axes slung over his shoulders, so why not have Hamer produce a custom-made five-necked monster for showman’s sake? Unless you have abnormally long arms, it’s not a practical instrument at all — at least not when you’re standing. But Nielsen is an avid guitar collector, and he loves Hamer’s instruments; if you can afford to have a top guitar manufacturer build you a five-necked guitar, you kinda have to do it.
Bo Diddley - "Twang Machine"
Bo Diddley is an American original. He introduced a new, syncopated sound to American popular music (now called the "Bo Diddley beat") and beat it all out on a cigar box-shaped guitar he called the "Twang Machine." Diddley built the instrument himself after an embarrassing stage accident that left him with an injured groin, and he stuck with it through the rest of his career. It isn't sexy, but it got the job done.
Neil Young - "Old Black"
This classic 1953 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop has been Neil Young’s instrument of choice for almost 50 years. He acquired it in a trade with Buffalo Springfield’s Jim Messina, and he has played it on nearly every album since 1969’s "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere." Young has made some modifications over the years, and it has required a good deal of repair, but Old Black is still kicking out the jams all these years later.
Brian May - "Red Special"
This homemade classic can be heard on just about every classic Queen track. Brian May built the instrument from scratch with his father, using oak from an old table for the body and wood from a well-aged fireplace mantel. May always toured with the Red Special, and, after decades of abuse, had it restored in 1998. He upgraded it again in 2005, but 54 years after its construction, he has yet to retire the old beauty.
Keith Richards - "Micawber"
This weathered 1953 Fender Telecaster is named after Wilson Micawber, the debtor tormented by Uriah Heep in Charles Dickens’s "David Copperfield," but torment is not the emotion one typically associates with Keith Richards’s blues-inflected riffs. The Micawber has been producing boozy, after-hours sounds since debuting during the “Exile on Main St.” sessions, and it's often at Richards’s side on stage.
Eric Clapton - "Blackie"
After making his bones throughout the 1960s playing Gibson guitars, Clapton switched over to Fender Stratocasters in 1970 and has generally stuck with the model ever since. The first Strat was called "Brownie" and was used during the "Layla" sessions, but for live performances, Clapton went with "Blackie" (both imaginatively named for their color). Watch any Clapton concert from 1973 to 1985 and you’ll see "Blackie."
Stevie Ray Vaughan - "1959 Strat"
Though Stevie Ray Vaughan’s signature axe sported a 1963 Fender body, the late blues rock guitarist referred to it as a "1959 Strat" due to its 1959 pickups, and no one who ever listened to the man tear it up ever argued the point. With the exception of Funkadelic’s Eddie Hazel, no one has gotten a more ferocious sound out of the Stratocaster since Jimi Hendrix. It’s a tragedy we lost SRV so damn early, too.
Paul McCartney - Höfner Violin Bass
The Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass was the instrument on which Paul McCartney played some of the greatest pop songs ever recorded. The left-handed musician bought his first Höfner in 1961 because he thought it would be easier for him to play, and he stuck with it throughout his entire Beatles career (though he did begin to work in a Rickenbacker and Fender after 1965). It’s a unique instrument that is exclusively associated with McCartney.
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always thought it was cool how Clapton stuck his cig in this guitar string, I started doing it to,