the guitar collection

ThE GUITAR COLLECTION

An elite gathering of 150 exceptional guitars
Walter Carter | Photography by greg morgan, John Peden, and marco prozzo

Copyright 2011 becker&mayer!, LLC

All rights reserved under the Pan American and International Copyright Convention.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from
the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

Manufactured in China

Double-neck 05 Edition
ISBN-13: 978-1-60380-169-0
ISBN-10: 1-60380-169-3
Flat-top 43 Edition
ISBN-13: 978-1-60380-170-6
ISBN-10: 1-60380-170-7
Solidbody 54 Edition
ISBN-13: 978-1-60380-171-3
ISBN-10: 1-60380-171-5

All images are the copyright of the guitar owner at the time the photograph was
taken unless stated otherwise.
See photography credits on page 509.

Epic Ink
11120 NE 33rd Place, Ste. 101
Bellevue, Washington 98004
[Link]

Author

Designers

Walter Carter

Todd Bates

Photographers
Greg Morgan

Rosebud Eustace
Joanna Price

John Peden

Editors

Marco Prozzo

Kristin Mehus-Roe

PANELists

Amelia Riedler

Walter Carter

Production coordinators

Alan Di Perna

Leah Finger

Matthew Hill

Tom Miller

Michael Molenda

Diane Ross

Tom Wheeler
Bryan Yates
ADVISORy board
Dave Belzer
Brad Tolinski
Lynn Wheelwright

Photo Director
Shayna Ian
Product developer
Peter Schumacher
Licensing Manager
Josh Anderson
Contracts Manager
Kelley Notter
Associate Managing Editor
Miriam Hathaway
Associate Publisher
Adrian Liang
Publisher
Andrew s. Mayer

contents
About the Book

11

INtroduction

13

Stromberg Master 400 yellow cloud,

irving ashby
Wilkanowski

Fender Stratocaster

228

Gretsch The Twang Machine, bo diddley

120

Fender Stratocaster, Eldon Shamblin

230

Gibson ES-335TDN

124

Fender Stratocaster Mary Kaye,

Gibson ES-335TDC Crossroads, Eric Clapton

Stradivarius The Rawlins

16

Ro-Pat-In Electric Prototype

128

Fabricatore

20

Elektro A-25 Frying Pan

132

Lyre-Guitar

24

Ro-Pat-In Electric Spanish Prototype,

Torres

26

Martin Stauffer-Style

28

Martin Custom

32

Haynes-Tilton
Orville Gibson
Gibson Style O Artist
Gibson Style U Harp Guitar

Mary Kaye and Johnny Cucci

Fender Stratocaster Brownie, Eric Clapton

Mosrite Double-neck, barbara mandrell

436

332

Coral Vincent Bell Electric Sitar, Rod Richards

440

334

Ampeg Dan Armstrong ARM-G1, greg ginn

442

328

232

Gibson ES-345

338

Ovation Adamas Prototype

446

236

Gibson ES-345TD, Chuck Berry

340

Veillette-Citron VC Number Six

448

Fender Stratocaster Blackie, Eric Clapton

240

Gibson ES-355 Lucille, B.B. King

342

Alembic Exploiter Spyder Bass, john entwistle

452

136

Fender Stratocaster, Jimmie Vaughan

244

Epiphone Sheraton

346

Steinberger XL2 Bass

456

Rickenbacker Vibrola Spanish

140

Fender Stratocaster Number One, Stevie

Epiphone Casino, howlin wolf

348

B.C. Rich Bich ten-String

460

Vivi-Tone

142

248

Gibson Les Paul Custom

352

Kramer Frankenstrat, edward van halen

464

34

Audiovox Model 736 bass

144

Fender Stratocaster Lenny, Stevie Ray Vaughan 252

Les Paul Standard Copy, Slash

468

38

Slingerland Songster Model 401

146

Fender Jazzmaster

256

354

PRS Golden Eagle, howard leese

470

40

National Electric Spanish

150

Fender Bass VI

260

Gibson SG Special, Pete Townshend

358

PRS Double-neck Dragon 2005

474

42

Gibson ES-150 Prototype

152

Gibson Les Paul Model

264

Epiphone Crestwood Custom

362

Prs Santana I red coral, carlos santana

478

Gibson L-5, Maybelle Carter

46

Gibson ES-250, Charlie Christian

154

Gibson Les Paul Custom

268

Gibson EDS-1275, Jimmy Page

366

Yellow Cloud, prince

482

Gibson Super 400

50

Gibson ES-250, Alvino Rey

156

Gibson Les Paul Model Goldie, Dickey Betts

270

Gibson Firebird III

370

Hamer Custom Five-Neck, rick nielsen

484

GIBSON Les Paul Standard, Eric Clapton and

Fender Telecaster, Muddy Waters

372

Ibanez Jem 7WH Prototype Evo, steve vai

488

272

Fender Telecaster, Clarence White and

Parker Fly Artist

492

gage brewer

Ray Vaughan

Weissenborn Style 1

52

Gibson ES-300, Les Paul

160

National Style 4, Tampa Red

54

Gibson Electric Upright Bass

162

National Style o

58

The Log, les paul

164

Gibson Les Paul Standard, Duane Allman

Martin 00-18, Jimmie Rodgers

62

Gibson ES-300, Danny Cedrone

168

Gibson Les Paul Standard Pearly Gates,

Paul Kossoff

Martin 00-42, Gene Autry

64

Gibson ES-5, carl perkins

172

Martin D-2, Luther Ossenbrink

68

Gibson ES-175, steve howe

176

Gibson Les Paul Standard, Jimmy Page

Martin 000-42, Eric Clapton

70

Gibson ES-295

180

Martin D-45S, Austin Wood

72

Gibson L-5CESN

182

Billy Gibbons

274

Gibson SG Standard the fool, Eric Clapton

and todD rundgren

Marty Stuart
Fender Stratocaster, Mike Mitchell

376

Monteleone Radio City

496

380

DAquisto New Yorker seven-String

500

DAquisto Centura

502

278

Fender Telecaster, Joe Strummer

384

282

Fender Telecaster, James Burton

388

Gibson Flying V Number 7, lonnie mack

286

Fender stratocaster, Jimi Hendrix

390

Index

505

Gibson Flying V Lucy, albert king

290

Fender Mustang, Adrian Belew

394

biographies & Acknowledgments

507

Martin D-28, Hank Williams

74

Gibson Byrdland

186

Gibson EMS-1235 Double-neck

294

Fender Competition Mustang, Kurt Cobain

396

photography credits

509

Martin D-18, Elvis Presley

76

Epiphone Emperor

190

Kay K-161 Thin Twin, howlin wolf

298

Fender Jazz Bass, Aston Family Man Barrett

400

Thank yous

511

Gibson Nick Lucas Special

80

Guild Merle Travis

194

Danelectro Deluxe model 6027

302

Hfner 500/1, paul m c cartney

402

Gibson L-Century

82

Bigsby, Merle Travis

196

Gretsch Chet Atkins Hollow Body

Zemaitis twelve-String, jimi hendrix

406

Stahl By Larson Brothers

86

Bigsby, Hezzy Hall

200

Stella twelve-String, lead belly

90

Bigsby Double-neck, j.b. thomas

202

Gibson SJ-200, ray whitley

94

Fender Esquire, jeff beck

206

Gibson J-200, emmylou harris

98

Fender Broadcaster

210

(Model 6120), Chet Atkins

306

Gretsch Chet Atkins Hollow Body

(Model 6120), Eddie Cochran

Gibson J-45, buddy holly

100

Fender Telecaster, Howard Roberts

212

104

Fender Telecaster, Danny Gatton

216

Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman

(Model 6121), Chet Atkins

408
412

Guild F-30NT Special, Paul Simon

416

National Glenwood 99

418

312

Guild thunderbird S-200, Muddy Waters

422

314

Rickenbacker 325-12, John Lennon

424

308

Gretsch Chet Atkins Solid Body

Gretsch 150 Artist

G. Stanley Francis twelve-String, pete seeger

Gibson J-160E, John Lennon

Gretsch Synchromatic 400

108

Fender Telecaster Nancy, Roy Buchanan

220

Gretsch White Falcon

318

Rickenbacker 360-12, Roger M c Guinn

426

DAngelico Excel

112

Fender Telecaster Micawber, Keith Richards

222

Gretsch Silver Jet, billy zoom

322

Mosrite Ventures

430

DAngelico New Yorker Cutaway

116

Fender Precision Bass, donald duck dunn

226

Gretsch White Penguin

324

Mosrite Ventures II, Johnny Ramone

432

11

About the Book

More than two years ago, when the idea that ultimately became The Guitar

size at which the guitars would be portrayed in The Guitar Collection. John Peden,

Collection first presented itself, it seemed like an impossible endeavor. Not only

Greg Morgan, and Marco Prozzo brought sixty years of collective photographic

would we be creating the biggest guitar book ever made, we would also be

experience and expertise to shoots that required a delicate manner, outrageous

tracking down and photographing 150 of the most important guitars in existence.

confidence, and an artistic vision. The guitars they were handling, such as Stevie

Giant in scale, this book would come with its own guitar case and a companion

Ray Vaughans Number One and Paul McCartneys Hfner, were sometimes valued

book to tell the cultural and historical stories of the guitars and the masters who

at close to one million dollars and had even greater historical and cultural value.

played them. There were numerous issues to be solved, from how to produce a

And throughout all of this, our production and design teams were collaborating

book of this sortwas it even possible?to how to find the guitars themselves.

on an aesthetic vision and a means to source the specialty materials the book

The first question to be tackled, of course, was how to decide which guitars

required. The case would be custom manufactured and The Guitar Collection

to include. Acknowledging that ultimately a list of the top 150 guitars is subjective,

would need to be printed by one of the few companies in the world capable of

we needed to establish a fair and balanced selection process. It became clear

creating a book at this size.

that the best way to do so was with a panel of expertsguitar aficionados with a

The hours spent on this book are difficult to fathomcertainly hundreds by

range of perspectivesas well as the advice of guitar dealers, collectors, makers,

the panelists, printers, and photographers, and thousands by the writers and

and players. In our search, one name came up again and again: Walter Carter.

in-house crew. Our team would ultimately comprise more than twenty people

A renowned guitar historian and author, Carter had to be a key element of this

and that number doesnt include the many collectors, museums, photographer and

book, and we were thrilled when he agreed both to be on the panel and to author

technical assistants, printers, lawyers, videographers, consultants, copy editors,

the larger book. The rest of the panel quickly fell into placeTom Wheeler, also a

and proofers who would contribute their talents. Much more than just a book,

guitar author and the former editor of Guitar Player magazine; Michael Molenda,

the project became the supreme publishing challenge for everyone involvedan

the current editor of Guitar Player; Matthew Hill, curator of the Musical Instrument

example of how impressive a book can be with unlimited creativity, collaboration,

Museum; Bryan Yates, a guitar expert who was instrumental in the production of

and passion devoted to it.

the Experience Music Project guitar display; and Alan di Perna, a noted writer and
editor of Guitar World magazine. We also hired Art Thompson, associate editor
for Guitar Player, to coauthor The Guitar Collection: Stories with panelists Michael
Molenda and Alan di Perna. And we benefited greatly from the insights and advice
of our advisory panel, comprising Dave Belzer, vintage guitar buyer for Guitar
Center; Lynn Wheelwright, vintage guitar expert; and Brad Tolinski, editor of Guitar
World and Guitar Aficionado magazines.
Our panelists and advisory board spent many long months in discussions
(some of them rather heated), including a grueling two-day-long panelist meeting
in Seattle, whittling down a final list of guitars. Even as the debate raged on, our
photographersall stringed-instrument connoisseurs in their own rightbegan
traveling across the United States and to England in order to shoot the rare and
fantastic guitars our panelists had agreed upon. Each shootthirty-three in
totalrequired extensive preparation and state-of-the-art equipment due to the

We believeas we truly believe you will, tooit was all worth it. We present to
you: The Guitar Collection.
The editors

13

INTRODUCTION
By virtue of its scopenot to mention its physical sizethis book presents itself as not

destroyed by floodwaters in 2010. Tsumuras collection was broken up and sold when

of Guitar Player and the author of the groundbreaking book American Guitars; Bryan

appeal: one is a very early example of the model (when it was still called a D-2) that

just The Guitar Collection but rather as THE Guitar Collection. Despite few limits in the

Japanese authorities discovered he had commingled business and personal funds.

Yates, producer of the interviews and audio clips for the Experience Museum Projects

was used by radio star Arkie, the Arkansas Woodchopper, and the other was played by

choice of guitars for our collection, creating the guitar collection was a surprisingly dif-

A truly astounding collection of instrumentsall kinds of musical instruments

guitar exhibit, entitled The Quest for Volume; and myself, former Gibson historian and

country music legend Hank Williams Sr. Similarly, our representative Gibson L-5 is nei-

author of ten books on vintage guitars and guitar companies.

ther the rare, highly collectible early version with a label signed by designer Lloyd Loar,

ficult goal to execute.

The ultimate collection of guitars would seem easy to define. Just imagine Noah

resides at the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota. Despite its size,
there is focusmany areas of focus and many true collectionsnot just a Noahs

This diversity of the committee led to some interesting decisions. At one point the

nor the late-1930s 17-inch cutaway version that many big-band guitarists played, but a
refinished 1928 L-5 played by Mother Maybelle Carter.

gathering one of every model ever made. But that would be the ultimate amass-

ark for instruments. Nevertheless, after walking through room after room of displayed

Stratocaster was in danger of being over-represented. One faction suggested cutting

ment of guitars. A collection is different. A collection has a focus or a theme or

instruments, with the knowledge that thousands more are in storage due to a short-

a pristine 1954 example, but to other committee members that guitar should have

some qualification for inclusion. It doesnt have to be gargantuan. The collection of

age of display space, the goal of assembling and presenting the ultimate collection

been the cornerstone of any Strat collection. Some who felt the 54 was necessary

reasons they do nowto be seen and heard. It follows that if you admire guitars of

author Jonathan Kellerman, for example, numbers a little over one hundred instru-

seems overwhelming, if not unreachable.

wondered if we really needed two Clapton Strats. Should we cut Brownie, the guitar

any particular style or era, you admire all guitars. Thats why The Guitar Collection

The musicians who played guitars in the 1700s and 1800s played for the same

ments and is focused on a few areas, the most memorable of which is acoustic

A book, however, has a finite number of pages. The Guitar Collection had to be

Clapton used on Layla? In those moments, one might have wondered if it were

features a guitar made in 1700 by renowned violinmaker Antonio Stradivari as well as

Hawaiian guitars. Even more focused is a collection put together by Dallas psy-

limited to a certain number of instruments, and that number was determined to be 150.

really possible to assemble a collection that would appeal to all guitar enthusiasts.

a pawnshop Mustang played by Kurt Cobain. Thats why a 1902 archtop guitar made

chologist Thomas Van Hoose of Gibson Super 400sone example of each version,

While that number made for a manageable collection, it did not make the job of deter-

Would this book even make it out of committee?

by Orville Gibson (the inventor of the archtop genre) belongs in the same book with

a total of only fifteen guitars. These collections clearly reflect the owners personal

mining which instruments warranted inclusion any easier. To do that, we needed to

passions. My own collection has always been similarly defined by my interests as

set an organizational guideline. We decided to present these instruments in a roughly

parlor guitar made by C.F. Martin, for examplewe got down to the fundamental

a player, initially in Hawaiian-style guitars (both electric and acoustic) and more

chronological, historical order, as opposed to grouping them by maker, thereby giving

question: What is it about guitars that makes them appealing? For guitar buyers,

recently in mandolas and other mandolin-family instruments.

the collection the broadest of story lines: the history of the guitar.

there are three factors: performance, celebrity, and aesthetics. In other words, how it

can also stand on its own. Each instrument is a vignette from guitar history that opens

plays, who plays it, and how it looks. Our criteria were essentially the same:

a doorway. Each could launch a chapter in a book or, in many cases, an entire book.

In comparing apples and orangesan Ibanez Jem owned by Steve Vai and a

a 1963 National electric guitar with a green fiberglass body shaped like a map of the
United States.
While the collection is impressive as a whole, each guitar in The Guitar Collection

On the other end of the spectrum are collections that are virtually unlimitedat

History is only a general framework, though, and not a focus. Furthermore, the

least by the collectors financial resources. The Scott Chinery collection, for example,

history of guitar models is only one facet of the guitar story. In imagining the audience

was put together in the 1990s by a millionaire who bought every collectible fretted

for this collectionpeople with a passion for guitarswe would certainly want to

Historical performance: These guitars could be prototypes, workhorse

story with diverse plot lines, from carved tops to metal resonators to solid bodies,

instrument he could find. Chinerys passion for guitars seemed to be more strongly

appeal to the curator of a recent exhibit on the art of guitars, who once dismissed a

production models, or even evolutionary dead ends, but they have played an

and a cast of interesting characters ranging from C.F. Martin to Slash, from Stradivari

expressed in the blue guitars he commissioned from leading archtop makers than in

Gibson ES-150 (Gibsons first electric model, made famous by pioneering jazz guitar-

important role in guitar history or music history.

to Clapton, all connected by one common threada passion for the guitar.

the excesses of his vintage collection. Roy Acuff, the country music icon, seems to

ist Charlie Christian) as just another brown guitar. And we would want to appeal to

have bought every odd or unusual instrument he saw as he assembled a collection

the prominent vintage guitar dealer who asked Who gives a ****? about a refinished

Celebrity: Guitars would be nothing without the artists who played them, of

over his lifetime. With instruments as diverse as a Vivi-Tone bodyless electric mando-

Gibson SG Standard, even if it had been owned by rock guitar god Eric Clapton.

course. The Les Paul wouldnt be the Les Paul without Page, Allman, and Slash.

cello and an ultrafancy Washburn flat-top guitar, his collection was almost impossible

Taken together, the vignettes in The Guitar Collection tell a fascinating story. Its a

walter carter

To reach these disparate guitar enthusiasts, we felt that the guitars for this collection

to describe, except to say that it comprised instruments that caught Roys attention.

should be chosen by experts from their ranks. So a committee was formeda panel

Aesthetics: This is the cool factor, the wow factor, exemplified by

Akira Tsumura, heir to a Japanese cosmetics empire, collected enough Jazz Age

who would choose which 150 guitars to include. On the far historical end, Matthew Hill

the scrolled body bout of a Gibson Style O Artist, the violin features of a

banjos in the 1980s and 1990s to publish a weighty tome called 1001 Banjos, but it

is an organologist, an academic term for one who studies the science of musical instru-

Wilkanowski, or the Foam Green custom-color finish on a Fender Bass VI.

struck me not so much as the banjo collection, only the largest.

ments (and a term that has not yet made its way into the everyday lexicon of guitar

As impressive as these collections were, they did not command the level of

buffs). At the other end of the spectrum, Michael Molenda is the editor of Guitar Player

Few guitars were as easy to agree on as Tampa Reds National Style 4 tricone,

respect or awe that the collection should have. The proof lies in the simple fact

magazine, a position that requires him to put together a commercial product every

which qualifies for all three criteria. In most cases, a guitar that qualified under only

that many no longer exist. Chinerys instruments were sold off individually after his

month that appeals to the largest number of guitarists. Alan di Perna, an associate edi-

one criterion did not make the final cut. For example, there is no pristine example

death in 2000. Acuffs were taken off display at Nashvilles Opryland complex within

tor for Guitar World magazine, also has a background in writing for todays young guitar

of a Martin herringbone D-28, which would qualify as a model of immense histori-

a few years of his death in 1992 and stored in a basement room, where they were

crowd. In the middle of the historical-commercial axis are Tom Wheeler, former editor

cal importance. The two herringbone D-28s that we did include have even greater

ThE GUITARs

16

Made in 1700

Stradivarius The Rawlins

| From the collection of the National Music Museum, The University of South Dakota, Vermillion |

The most celebrated violin maker of all time, Antonio Stradivari of Cremona, Italy, made at least
four guitars. Unlike the violin, which reached its pinnacle of design in Stradivaris hands, the
guitar was only midway through its evolutionary journey in 1700, when this Stradivarius guitar
was built.
The Rawlins, named for the benefactors who acquired it for the National Music Museum,
has an ancestral relation to the lute that is apparent in this instruments courses of paired
stringsa configuration that would prevail on the modern mandolin but would disappear on the
guitar around 1800. However, the hourglass body shape, with a waist delineating upper and
lower bouts, distinguished even the earliest guitars of the mid 1500s from the pear-shaped lute.

Like virtually all Stradivarius violins, this guitar has been modified. The embedded ebony
frets are highly suspect in an era when guitars typically had tied-on gut frets, and these frets
are not in the correct positions. The scale length of more than 29 inches is so long that gut
strings would break before they could be tuned up to standard pitch.
The prominent name and date on the back of the headstock, the too-long scale, and the
misplaced frets suggest that this instrument may have been made to showcase Stradivaris
artisanship rather than to be played.

100

Made circa 1944 and played by buddy holly

gibson j-45
| From the collection of michael J. malone |

Buddy Holly was always seen onstage with a Fender Stratocaster, but offstage this Gibson
J-45 was his main guitar, as indicated by the heavy pick wear around the sound hole. Inspired
by the leather covering that Elvis Presley used on a Martin D-28, Holly made his own tooledleather covering for the J-45, featuring the titles of his 1956 Decca recordings Love Me and
Blue Days Black Nights along with his home state of Texas.
Hollys J-45 was made during World War II, a period in which Gibson put a decal on the
headstock proclaiming Only a Gibson Is Good Enough. Wartime metal shortages limited
Gibsons guitar production, and by 1944 the company could not procure the material for the

adjustable truss rod, which had been used in the neck of virtually every Gibson since the
company patented the invention in 1921. As indicated by the lack of a truss-rod cover on
the headstock of Hollys guitar, Gibson made some guitars toward the end of the war without the adjustable rod in the neck.
After only eighteen months in the spotlight, Holly died at age twenty-two in a plane crash
on February 3, 1959. His influence on rock and roll remains strong, and the J-45 remains the
flagship model of Gibsons dreadnought line.

132

Made circa 1932

Elektro A-25 Frying Pan

| From the collection of Bobby Carlos, courtesy of the Museum of Making Music |

The company known as Rickenbacker had identity problems in its first year of existence. It
started as Ro-Pat-In in 1932 with the brand name Electro, then switched to the Electro String
Instrument company with the brand name Rickenbacker (or Rickenbacher, as the 1930s
headstock decals said). This guitar, one of the earliest known examples of Ro-Pat-Ins original
electric Hawaiian guitar, illustrates the state of confusion with the brand name Elektrowith
a kengraved into the headstock.
Aside from the brand name, this guitar is easily identifiable as Electro/Rickenbackers
famous Frying Pan model. Officially, it was the A-25. The number refers to the scale length of
25 inches; the company also offered the A-22, with a 22-inch scale.

As this guitar shows, the company immediately abandoned the wood-bodied design
of its prototype in favor of a one-piece cast-aluminum unit. Hawaiian-style guitarists had no
problem with its nontraditional shape or its inelegant nickname, as they embraced the extra
volume provided by the distinctive horseshoe-magnet pickup.
Although the Frying Pan would soon be overshadowed in the Rickenbacker line by a new
Hawaiian model made from another nontraditional materialthermoplastic Bakelitethis
pioneering model would remain in production essentially unchanged for twenty-five years.

196

Made in 1948 and played by merle travis

bigsby

| From the collection of the Country Music Hall of Fame and museum |

Through a career that spanned from the 1930s to the 1980s, influential finger-picking guitarist
Merle Travis played many recognizable instruments, from a gaudy Guild archtop to a Martin
flat-top with a Bigsby neck. Of all those guitars, his most important was this solidbody model
made by Paul Bigsby in 1948, predating the earliest Fender solidbody guitars by two years.
Bigsby, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, was better known as a motorcycle
enthusiast than a guitar maker when Travis gave him a drawing of a guitar and asked, You can
make anything, right? Bigsbys famous reply: Any damn thing.
The headstock, with all six tuners on the same side, was designed by Travis to provide
a straight-line string pull and inspired by the European instruments of the 1800s (including

the earliest Stauffer-style guitars of C.F. Martin). The Bigsby would in turn inspire Fenders
headstock design. The body originally had no cutaway, but Bigsby added it soon after the
guitar was completed. The ornamental pieces are Bigsbys design, inspired by the armrests
on banjos.
Though Bigsby is often cited as the true father of the solidbody guitar, the honor comes
with qualification. The back plate covers a heavily routed body, but the routing is for weight
relief and does not alter the guitars functionality as a solidbody.

222

Fender Telecaster
Micawber
| From the collection of keith richards |

Made in 1953 and played by keith richards

Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones usually played Gibsons throughout the 1960s, but in
1971 he bought this 1953 Telecaster. After a series of modifications, this guitar, nicknamed
Micawber after a character in Charles Dickenss David Copperfield, became one of his favorite and most famous instruments.
The most important alteration is the most obviousthe neck pickup. Richards brought
some of his familiar Gibson sound to the Fender by replacing the original single-coil pickup
with a Gibson humbucker. He replaced the bridge pickup, too, but with a similar unit from a
Fender lap steel.

Richards tuned this guitar to an open G chord, and because he did not use the lowest
string, he removed it, making it a five-string. He replaced the Teles standard three-segment
saddles with a brass bridge plate featuring an adjustable saddle for each string, and he
removed the unneeded sixth-string saddle. The tuners have also been replaced.
Richards would buy several more Telecasters and set them up with humbuckers, but he
continued to rely heavily on Micawber, as evidenced by the wear and tear on the body.
His heavy strumming has worn through the finish on the body and the end of the neck,
and has caused one of the black fingerboard markers to pop out.

240

Fender Stratocaster
Blackie
| From the collection of guitar center |

Made circa 19561957 and played by eric clapton

In 1970, on a break from filming the Johnny Cash TV show at Nashvilles Ryman Auditorium,
Eric Clapton walked around the corner to a guitar shop, Sho-Bud, where he bought a halfdozen vintage Fender Stratocasters and parts. Clapton then put a black-finished body from
1957a date confirmed by the serial number on the neck plate and by the single-ply white
pickguard (which would be replaced in 1959 by a multi-ply unit)together with a maple neck
of about the same age (most later necks would have a rosewood fingerboard).
Blackie (as he dubbed the guitar) replaced Claptons 1956 Strat, Brownie, and Clapton used it extensively for almost fifteen years, as shown by the heavy finish wear on the

body and the cigarette burns in the headstock. Along the way, Clapton and bandmember
Albert Lee began calling themselves the Fabulous Duck BrothersClapton was Peking
Duck and Lee was Bombay Duckand Claptons crew stenciled The Duck Bros. on
Blackies road case.
Blackie was the star attraction at a 2004 auction to benefit the Crossroads Centre in
Antigua, an addiction treatment facility founded by Clapton. The Guitar Center retail chain
paid a then-record $959,500 for Blackie and immediately commissioned a limited-edition
replica from Fender, complete with the Duck Bros. case.

286

gibson flying v
number 7
| From the collection of lonnie mack |

Made in 1958 and played by lonnie mack

Lonnie Mack, a 17-year-old country guitarist from southern Indiana, was probably not one
of the target customers for Gibsons new, modernistic Flying V model of 1958, but in Macks
hands, the Flying V became an icon of rock music.
Mack bought the seventh Flying V made by Gibson from Glen Hughes Music in Cincinnati, and he soon asked the store to install a Bigsby vibrato. The store had to bend a strip of
metal to mount the Bigsby to the guitars unconventional body.
An ancient capo has left its marks on the back of the neck, revealing the original lightbrown shade of the Korina wood (African limba). Mack painted his guitar purple and then

had the Sho-Bud company of Nashville refinish it in cherry red (removing the original serial
number and the headstock logo) to match Gibsons SG models of the 1960s. The white nylon
saddles of the Tune-o-matic bridge are also replacement parts from the 1960s.
Mack used this guitar on his 1963 hit Memphis. The record introduced his self-described
roadhouse style to a national audience and revived interest in a model that Gibson had
abandoned. Moreover, Mack and his Flying V created a blueprint for the blues-influenced guitar
style that would become modern rock and roll.

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Made in 1955

Gretsch White Penguin

| From the Bachman Gretsch collection of Gretsch Guitars |

The White Penguin was one of only two Gretsch solidbody models (the Chet Atkins being the
other) to have counterparts in the hollowbody line. The Penguin was the solidbody equivalent
of the White Falcon, sharing such appointments as engraved fingerboard inlays, a Cadillacstyle tailpiece, and gold-sparkle binding. Even the winglike ornaments on the headstock
appropriate for a falcon but not so much for a penguinwere dutifully copied. In typical
Gretsch fashion for the period, the serial number was scratched onto the back control plate.
The line drawing of a squat, upright bird on the pickguard posed the question that Gretsch
never answered: Why would anyone name a guitar after a penguin?

Sightings of the Penguin were rare, even in Gretsch literature. It appeared only in a 1958
flyer and a 1959 price list. At $490 it was more than $100 higher than any other solidbody, but
still more than $100 cheaper than the White Falcon.
Production of the White Penguin is estimated at only a dozen. At one point in the early
1990s, it was a Penguinnot a Gibson sunburst Les Paulthat set a record price for the sale of
an electric guitar. It remains one of the most highly sought rare birds in the vintage guitar world.

366

Gibson EDS-1275
| From the collection of JIMMY PAGE |

Made in 1971 and played by JIMMY PAGE

On Led Zeppelins classic Stairway to Heaven, Jimmy Page used an acoustic Harmony
guitar, a Fender Telecaster, and a Fender electric twelve-string. That made it impossible to
recreate the recording in live performances, where Page was limited to one guitar at a time.
However, he found a partial solution in Gibsons EDS-1275 double-neck, which allowed him to
switch from six strings to twelve strings without changing guitars.
Gibsons double-neck model started off in the late 1950s with a unique hollowbody carvedtop design, but when Gibson transformed the Les Paul line to the pointed-horn SG body style
in 1961, the double-neck models followed suit. The lighter body weight of the SG design made

the EDS-1275 more comfortable to play than the earlier version. Due to increased popularity,
what had been a custom-order model became a regular production guitar.
Page replaced the humbucking pickups on the six-string side of his EDS-1275 with
coverless Seymour Duncan units, but otherwise this is the stock production modeldespite
the Custom inscription on the truss-rod covers.
Gibson stopped offering the EDS-1275 in 1969this guitar was special-ordered in 1971
but thanks to its use by Page (and later by Slash of Guns N Roses), demand for doublenecks did not go away. Gibson revived the model in 1977, and it remains in production today.

390

Made in 1968 and played by jimi hendrix

Fender Stratocaster
| From the collection of Experience Music Project |

No guitar represents a greater convergence of artist, event, and instrument than this 1968
Fender Stratocaster played by Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock.
Taken alone, the instrument is rather unremarkable. For starters, it was made during
CBSs ownership of Fender, a period of declining quality. Its a stock right-handed Stratocaster
with Olympic White finish. Although the maple fingerboard appears to be integral with the
neck, as it was on 1950s Fenders, it is actually separate; the giveaway is on the back
of the neck, where there is no evidence of the walnut skunk stripe that is present on all
Fender one-piece necks. Hendrix played left-handed, but rather than special-ordering a

lefty, he simply flipped the guitar over and reversed the strings, so that the heavier bass
strings would be on what is normally the treble side.
Although the Strat had some degree of notoriety in rock and roll music, thanks to Buddy
Holly and the surf bands, it was overshadowed in the Fender line in the early-to-mid 1960s by
the more expensive Jazzmaster.
The film Woodstock featured Hendrixs screaming, pyrotechnic version of The StarSpangled Banner, which set the course for the future of rock guitar and instantly raised the
Stratocaster to the iconic status that it enjoys today.

468

Made in 1986 and played by slash

Les Paul Standard copy

| From the collection of slash |

With the release of Guns N Roses Appetite for Destruction in 1987, the bands guitarist,
Slash, emerged as one of the most influential guitarists of the 1980s and 90s, with a style
and a guitarthat harkened back to the classic blues-based rockers of the 1960s.
Ironically, this vintage-looking Les Paulthe one Slash used on Appetite for Destruction
is not a Gibson. It is a replica made by Kris Derrig of MusicWorks, a guitar store located in
Redondo Beach, California. The top, like those of the most sought-after original Les Pauls,
features highly figured book-matched maple, but with no cherry tint around the edges of the

top. The serial number is ink-stamped in the style of a 1959 Gibson, but the neck profile is
actually that of a 58. The special sound of this guitar comes from a pair of Seymour Duncan
Alnico II humbuckers with black-and-white zebra coils and some vintage electronics that the
maker had in his shop.
Despite the fact that Slashs favorite Les Paul was a replica, his influence on sales of real
Gibson Les Pauls was so great that Gibson welcomed him as an endorser and in 2010 introduced a replica of this replica as the Slash Appetite for Destruction Les Paul.