Between those who love them for what they represent and those who don’t appreciate the concept, signature guitars have always divided guitarists. Custom-made instruments and famous models for the most prominent and well-known artists. A very common practice by now, capable of splitting the world of six-string lovers in half like nothing else, equally divided between those who see it as the best way to get closer to the sound of their guitar hero, and those who, on the contrary, point to it as a mere, unpleasant marketing operation. But if the biggest manufacturers grab, for millions of dollars, the image rights of a guitarist, marketing an instrument made to measure for him, then it means that the guitar market is a phenomenon worth analyzing.
Fender Stratocaster Monterey – Jimi Hendrix
Let’s start with him, the best of all, the “Leonardo Da Vinci” of the six strings, in two words: Jimi Hendrix. No one in the history of music has managed to explore the vast sound possibilities that a guitar can offer like the genius from Seattle. A timeless artist, who has inextricably linked his name to an equally iconic guitar model: the Fender Stratocaster. A huge number of reproductions, but the one that probably stands out the most is the copy of the instrument used during his iconic performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.
The original model, produced in 1965, was hand-painted with psychedelic motifs by Hendrix himself a few hours before going on stage and consecrating him as a new rock god. At the end of the performance, Jimi, after spraying lighter fluid on the body of the guitar, set it on fire, breaking it into a thousand pieces. A scene certainly among the most iconic in the history of rock.
Gibson EDS-1275 – Jimmy Page
A double-neck guitar is one of those instruments that can make anyone feel like a true Rock God. Jimmy Page knows this well, and in the early 70s, he asked Gibson to produce a six- and twelve-string guitar, nicknamed EDS-1275. This iconic “double neck” was shown off for the first time by the English musician on March 5, 1971, during a concert at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, the first date of the promotional tour for the fourth, legendary album by his band, a certain “little band” called Led Zeppelin. 50 years later, Gibson’s Custom Shop decided to create a replica, scanning the original model with forensic analysis techniques to reproduce even the smallest scratch and nick on its cherry red paint.
Fender Stratocaster Blackie – Eric Clapton
After using Gibson guitars throughout the first part of his career, Eric Clapton decided to make the “big leap” by switching to Fender guitars in the early 70s. Legend has it that this “conversion” occurred on the way to Nashville, Tennessee. After entering a local music store, Sho-Bud, Slowhand bought six Stratocasters produced in the 50s for the modest sum of $300. He decided to give three of these as gifts to George Harrison of the Beatles, Pete Townshend of the Who, and Steve Winwood, the man who, together with Jimi Hendrix, convinced him to “betray” Gibson for Fullerton’s six-string.
The guitar born from this mix is nicknamed Blackie because of its black finish. It was auctioned off by Slowhand in 2004 to raise funds for the Crossroads Rehabilitation Center, his rehabilitation and recovery center for alcohol and drug abuse on the beaches of the Caribbean island of Antigua. Blackie was purchased by Guitar Center for the record sum of $959,500. The famous American music store chain then commissioned the Fender Custom Shop to create a tribute version of the instrument, produced in 185 units that sold for $23,500 each.
Ibanez JEM – Steve Vai
Among the most technically skilled guitarists in the history of music, Steve Vai is considered by many to be a Niccolò Paganini lent to the world of the six strings. A virtuoso with a capital V; in addition to paving the way for future shredders, he was one of the first musicians to have a series of signature guitars. We are talking about the JEM, an instrument created by Ibanez in the distant 1987 on specific instructions from Vai himself. The model created by this crazy experiment drove Vai crazy with joy, starting the longest-lasting signature series in the history of the guitar.
Red Special – Brian May
Along with Freddie Mercury, Brian May’s Red Special was the great voice of Queen. The story of this iconic instrument is nothing short of singular. In 1962, May, unable to afford a Gibson or a Fender, decided to build a guitar himself. With the help of his father Harold, an engineer with a passion for model making, he shaped the body from a piece of oak, carving the neck from an 18th-century fireplace mantelpiece with a pocketknife. To complete the whole thing, three Tri-Sonic pick-ups were installed and a bridge was assembled by May with his own hands in the small workshop at his school. The cost of the entire project? Just £8.00. The nickname of this magnificent instrument, Red Special, comes from the reddish color obtained by applying several coats of Rustin plastic paint to the oak body.
A small masterpiece of 100% handcrafted violin engineering that, over the years, has been honored with many replicas produced by many more or less famous brands.
EVH Frankenstrat – Eddie Van Halen
In the late 70s and early 80s, Eddie Van Halen was the one who managed to take the concept of “virtuoso guitarist” to previously unexplored heights. Emulating Brian May, he also decided to build a six-string with his own hands. Just like the unfortunate scientist protagonist of Mary Shelley’s novel, Van Halen composed his Frankenstrat in the hope of creating a perfect guitar, capable of combining the sound of a Gibson guitar with the ergonomics of a Fender. The body and neck of this instrument over the years have undergone an innumerable amount of modifications, identical to those of a Stratocaster.
The result of this continuous and frantic “cut and sew” was a raw instrument, with finishes that were anything but precious, but with a firepower that was nothing short of disproportionate. A real shred machine, capable of entering the empyrean of the most iconic signature guitars in the history of rock.
Gibson Lucille – B.B. King
Legend has it that in 1949, during a show in Arkansas, a young BB King was caught in a fire that started after two men argued over a woman named Lucille. After King fled the burning venue, he realized he had left his Gibson semi-acoustic guitar inside. He subsequently named all of his guitars “Lucille” to commemorate the experience, vowing to never give up his instruments again. Today, his “Lucille” guitar is sold by the Gibson Custom Shop as an artist model for $7,000.
Fender Jag-Stang – Kurt Cobain
Dragged, against his will, into the Olympus of the Rock Gods thanks to the overwhelming global success of Nevermind, Nirvana’s second album, the Seattle artist signed a deal with Fender in 1993, a collaboration that would later give rise to the production of his very personal signatures. Cobain decided to adopt a more personal approach, designing a new model in concert with the company. The result was a unique model, born as a hybrid between two historic Fender models: the Jaguar and the Mustang.
Fender Stratocaster Black Strat – David Gilmour
“Black goes with everything.” When black is not worn but played by someone like David Gilmour, things start to get interesting. His faithful companion during his 50-year career, the Black Strat is the guitar with which the English guitarist played Pink Floyd‘s most famous songs: from Echoes to Money, passing through Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and CComfortablyNumb. Gilmour bought his iconic Fender Stratocaster from Manny’s, the famous New York musical instrument store shortly before starting his 1970 American tour.
In 2019, Gilmour decided to part with his beloved Black Strat by auctioning it along with 125 other instruments he owned for the astonishing sum of €3,300,000. Fender has been producing a faithful copy of the Black Strat since 2008. It is one of the Californian brand’s best-selling signature guitars. The most prestigious version, created by Fender’s Custom Shop, is sold at a price that, although lower than the original, is still remarkable: around €4,500.
Gibson Les Paul Greeny – Peter Green Gary Moore Kirk Hammett
Unlike the other signature guitars on the list, this last six-string has managed to link its name to not one but three legendary guitarists in its 65 years of life. We are talking about Greeny, perhaps the most famous Les Paul of all time. An instrument that is already legendary in itself, a prominent member of the exclusive Burst club, a handful of examples produced by Gibson between 1958 and 1960, are considered the best electric guitars of all time. Greeny’s story begins in 1966, the year in which its first owner, Peter Green, purchased it from Selmer, a music shop in central London.
The guitarist, then twenty-one, was called to replace Eric Clapton in John Mayall’s Bluesbreaker . Not an easy task, but one that Green carried out excellently, as demonstrated by the wonderful solos he played on the 1967 album A Hard Road. Green also used his trusty Les Paul during his time in the very early nucleus of Fleetwood Mac. Three years later, in 1970, he decided to sell it to his friend Gary Moore for the same price he had bought it for, just £60.00 .