Most famous guitar?

[Kodiak3D]

I read a post earlier that made me wonder, "What is the most famous guitar out there?"

There are so many to choose from. Page's #1, Gilmour's Black Strat, Clapton's Brownie...the list goes on.

In your opinion, what is the most famous guitar? For me, I'd have to say it's B.B. King's "Lucille." Sure, there have been several Lucille's, but I think that's the guitar I've heard of the most.

[rugbynyc]

My votes:

SRV's #1 or EVHs original frankenstrat.

[sumitomo]

I have to agree with Kodiak3d,because Lucille/Lucy must have been quite the gal cause Albert King named his axe Lucy.Sumi:D

[red]

Keith Richard's Micawber Fender Telecaster.
Maybe Jimi Hendrix' white Woodstock Fender Stratocaster.

[Tig]

While I was thinking along the same lines as above (Gilmour's Black Strat, Van Halen's Frankenstrat, etc) it hit me.
There is one guitar that when viewed, most people immediately know who plays it...

http://gallery.photo.net/photo/6980590-md.jpg

[marnold]

I'd agree with the Frankenstrat too. For people my age, the red, white, and black striping is about as iconic as it gets. I personally would think of Lynch's ubiquitous bengal or Mr. Scary, but you'd have to be a fan to be familiar with those. Come to think of it, very few of my guitar heroes are known for just playing one guitar.

Back in the 70s someone might have said Buck Owens' red, white, and blue acoustic.

[deeaa]

Gotta say I have no idea of who is playing that acoustic.

To me, Lucille would be a strong contender. It'd be Angus and his SG but he uses several so it won't work.

But when I really think about what guitar would probably be instantly the most recognizable, I'd have to say it'd be Van Halen's red striped thingy.

I mean, Ok, with BB in the pic you know it's lucille...but are there any guitars out there that you'd know even _without_ the player in the picture? You wouldn't know lucille at least from other alikes.

Neil Young's blackie would be known...SRV's strat...but yeah, I'd be quite sure no other guitar would be known as wide as VH stratkenstein. Hell, it was a major visual part of a worldwide Pepsi ad campaign too. I'm sure even my mother would know that is some famous guitar, even though she can't tell an electric from an acoustic.

[Tig]

Gotta say I have no idea of who is playing that acoustic.

OMG, say it ain't so! :eek:
While I'm not a big country music fan, I thought most people would recognize it.
Here's a tiny clue...
http://www.defmshop.com/uploads/qV/xg/qVxgGc1FczIuaA_pjnS3dw/willie-nelson-reggae-300.jpg

[sunvalleylaw]

Gotta say I have no idea of who is playing that acoustic.

To me, Lucille would be a strong contender. It'd be Angus and his SG but he uses several so it won't work.

But when I really think about what guitar would probably be instantly the most recognizable, I'd have to say it'd be Van Halen's red striped thingy.

I mean, Ok, with BB in the pic you know it's lucille...but are there any guitars out there that you'd know even _without_ the player in the picture? You wouldn't know lucille at least from other alikes.

Neil Young's blackie would be known...SRV's strat...but yeah, I'd be quite sure no other guitar would be known as wide as VH stratkenstein. Hell, it was a major visual part of a worldwide Pepsi ad campaign too. I'm sure even my mother would know that is some famous guitar, even though she can't tell an electric from an acoustic.

I have to say that is a fair analysis that I agree with. It is either Lucille (many, many people of all musical persuasions have heard and seen one of the Lucilles, and heard BB talk about her) or the Frankenstrat, and for the reasons stated, and because of the nature of media in the 80s and after, I say Frankenstrat. I want to say Old Black, but naw, doesn't win as most generally famous. I DO know that the acoustic was Willie's though. :agree

[mrmudcat]

<<<<<<< Hotlanta is my most famous.....even though it wasnt played as much as the media print would like fo ya to believe!:gossip

[duhvoodooman]

SRV's #1, the white Hendrix Woodstock Strat, EC's Brownie & Blackie Strats, and the EVH Frankenstrat were the first to come to my mind. A few more that wouldn't be most famous, but are famous nonetheless:

Rory Gallagher's beat-to-sh*t Strat
Alvin Lee's 335
Bo Diddley's square Gretsch
Billy Gibbon's "Pearly Gates" LP & BillyBo Gretsch
Speaking of ZZ Top, the white, fuzzy "Eliminator" guitars
Jimmy Page's double-neck SG
Randy Rhoad's black V with the white polka-dots
Kurt Kobain's daphne blue Mustang
John Lennon's Ric & Casino
Albert King's Flying V, "Lucy"
Peter Green's Les Paul with the out-of-phase humbuckers
Buddy Holly's sunburst Strat
Bruce Springsteen's Esquire/Telecaster

[bigG]

I'd have to say B. B.'s Lucille. I think pretty much everyone knows that one. Willie's old nylon-string acoustic would be my #2 guess.

[Eric]

The first guitar that came to mind for me was the Red Special.

I do think WN's acoustic makes a strong case too.

[Blaze]

This one comes in my mind...


http://renewnorthfield.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/Alvin%20Lee%20tearing%20it%20up.jpg

[peachhead]

<<<<<<< Hotlanta is my most famous.....even though it wasnt played as much as the media print would like fo ya to believe!:gossip

Yeah, I'm there with you on that. When I think 'guitar' that's usually what comes to mind, even though I know the story on it.

But SRVs #1 makes sense...and I can see the Buck Owens reference too, but then again I listen to a lot of classic country.

[deeaa]

This one comes in my mind...


http://renewnorthfield.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/Alvin%20Lee%20tearing%20it%20up.jpg

Another unknown to me, sorry :-)

[deeaa]

OMG, say it ain't so! :eek:
While I'm not a big country music fan, I thought most people would recognize it.
Here's a tiny clue...
http://www.defmshop.com/uploads/qV/xg/qVxgGc1FczIuaA_pjnS3dw/willie-nelson-reggae-300.jpg

Sorry, never heard Willie Nelson...I have this understanding country music is strictly an american phenomenon? I don't know pretty much anything about it, it's almost never heard or played over here.

[bek]

A sad thing. Willie Nelson has written some of the most amazing songs, and is a gifted performer. Years ago, I saw him perform "Ain't it Funny How Time Slips Away," and was absolutely stunned. Later, the Yellow Rose soundtrack was an eye-opener, with its powerful rock and blues accents. If a cd was assembled with some of his stuff, maybe some Dwight Yoakam and Garth Brooks, I don't see how it could fail to excite any music lover. After all, country music is the basis of rockabilly, and from there came Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, etc., thence to add gospel and blues and you get Ray Charles and Little Richard and the whole rest of it.

[deeaa]

A sad thing. Willie Nelson has written some of the most amazing songs, and is a gifted performer. Years ago, I saw him perform "Ain't it Funny How Time Slips Away," and was absolutely stunned. Later, the Yellow Rose soundtrack was an eye-opener, with its powerful rock and blues accents. If a cd was assembled with some of his stuff, maybe some Dwight Yoakam and Garth Brooks, I don't see how it could fail to excite any music lover. After all, country music is the basis of rockabilly, and from there came Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, etc., thence to add gospel and blues and you get Ray Charles and Little Richard and the whole rest of it.

OK now you just quoted a whole bunch of complete unknowns more ;-) Yokam? Brooks? Gospel? Does somebody listen to it beside in southern churches?

Elvis and Lee I know of course.

[Kazz]

Deaa.....it is time for your musical education. You really need to find yourself some Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash and going old old school even some Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and just sit back and listen.....for Willie I suggest any of his greatest hits collections that have "Angel Flying To Close To The Ground" on it.....That guitar is very much the center of his music.


As for my picks....SRV's Lenny comes to mind but for Clapton Blackie comes to mind before Brownie. EVH's Frankenstrat is probably the single most recognizable electric guitar in my music world....outside of Willie's Classical Acoustic

[Kazz]

Another unknown to me, sorry :-)


This one I have no idea who it is either.

[oldguy]

LFpfureaCVs

[Kodiak3D]

Deeaa, that's interesting about country music. I didn't realize how isolated to America it is. Some great artists have been named here so I too encourage you to seek out some of their music.

[Zip]

Macca's violin-shaped Hofner. Changed/inspired a few generations of people worldwide.

My 2¢

[bigG]

LFpfureaCVs

For those of you unfamiliar w Ten Years After before they broke big, I highly suggest searching out their first release entitled "Undead". Recorded live in a small pub in the UK, Alvin Lee's guitar playing is phenomenal, and the band (adding B3, bass and drums) is tight!

I would categorize it as jump/swing/blues rock, and it has been one of my favorite albums since its release in 1968. The recording quality is quite good. I think if you give it a listen, you will love it, too! :agree

FWIW: the speed w which Lee plays prompted Rolling Stone mag. to come up w their "Play as fast as you can with no taste award", which I thought quite funny, as Lee's playing is VERY fast at times, slow and soulful at others, yet always tasty.

[wingsdad]

I've seen Lennon's Ric (325) and Casino and McCartney's Hofner violin bass mentioned, but to me, this guitar in George Harrison's hands introduced the magical jingle-jangle of an electric 12-string's new dimension to the early Beatles' guitar-driven sound, and then, influenced too many followers to list.

George's '63 Rickenbacker 360-12...the 2nd unit of the brand new model produced by Rickenbacker:

George checking out the new-fangled axe:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/wingsdad/GHnew63360-12.jpg

and on stage with it
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/wingsdad/GH64w360-12.jpg

[Brian Krashpad]

I read a post earlier that made me wonder, "What is the most famous guitar out there?"

There are so many to choose from. Page's #1, Gilmour's Black Strat, Clapton's Brownie...the list goes on.



I've always heard much more about Clapton's Blackie than Brownie. Blackie has a better story attached, being a Frankenstrat made out of several different ones.

And of course there's Jimi's flipped right-hand Strat. I would say Jimi's is most famous.

[deeaa]

Deaa.....it is time for your musical education. You really need to find yourself some Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash and going old old school even some Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and just sit back and listen.....for Willie I suggest any of his greatest hits collections that have "Angel Flying To Close To The Ground" on it.....That guitar is very much the center of his music. - snip -

OK, this has been a revelation...well to start with: I listened to a few Willie's songs, Waylon too - actually a duet with Willie for instance...and that angel thing too. (Garth Brooks btw sounds extremely well done and so on, but it's kinda hit-pop I don't care for, reminds me of something like David Hasselhoff or something might perform in a Vegas nightclub really, no offense intended :-) Willie I kinda liked, except when it went into that sidestick drum drone on some songs I found. Them Flatt and Scruggs - what I found reminded me of 'Deliverance' - it's kinda 'Bluegrass' I guess?

Now, they all did sound very familiar, exactly what you hear in movies in scenes located in some southern/cowboy bars etc. Full of certain riffs and melodies that make them instantly recognizable as country. Always those same first full-then 1,5 step bass down riffs, the sidestick drums, picked and slide...I guess just like guitar rock, they have a lot of common factors. Anyway they started to sound a little too familiar...I did some digging...

It's kinda funny...Johnny Cash and many other that style musicians though - a lot of older country etc. style songs have been translated into Finnish as well, I bet many many people don't even know they are originally foreign. I remember we used to sing a LOT of those kind of tunes in primary schools...in Finnish, though. Stuff like Riders in The Sky (hear in Finnish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVcCxa0SVyA
and I walk The Line (in Finnish here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrlBWl_57Jk and, you know, older stuff like Georgia on my mind, Clementine and Yellow Rose etc...I know them by different names and sung by Finnish disco/dance singers of the 70's etc. and in schools as children's songs, go figure. Well they are very simple catchy melodies. I walk the line was one of my super favorite songs when I was six, but it was in Finnish...I sang it all the time. There are a lot of songs I sang when I was a kid I later learned were actually some US songs originally, let me think...'Mexico'....'1-2-3-4-Motorway', stuff like that too, but I never did know they weren't Finnish originally. So you could say it is, in a way, music of my childhood in the 70's.

Anyway...at best I do like some country-style stuff...I always liked Grateful Dead's two 'country' albums American Beauty and Workingman's Dead VERY much, but they don't have these omnipresent sidestick drums and such that I don't like about country.

But what strikes me as funny is that indeed a lot of this country style music has been converted into 'old people's music' or 'children's music' here in Finland, it's exactly the kind of stuff they play in day dances for the 40-70 year olds, and astonishingly I bet a LOT of those songs are actually more or less direct translations of american country classics. They are often however changed to something more like Tango, more danceable...old folk here are crazy over tango etc.

So yeah...it doesn't seem to be my cup of tea. I like rock, most all kinds of rock from Buddy Holly to Lamb of God, but them country songs...too much the music my parents would have listened to in the 60's. There are a few gems I really like - I had this epiphany of seeing Johnny Cash's version of NIN's Hurt and it was simply awesome...and there are others that strike me as pleasant. But in general, I don't think I'd want to listen to music like that - any more that is.

[Retro Hound]

The mention of Randy Rhoads polka dots reminds me of Buddy Guy's polka dots on a strat.

[marnold]

The mention of Randy Rhoads polka dots reminds me of Buddy Guy's polka dots on a strat.
I hear that. I was surprised when I saw Buddy in concert that the polka dot Strat didn't make an appearance. MF was blowing the MIM version of those out a year or two ago. I was thisclose to snapping one up.

[guitartango]

What about the First UK strat as played by Hank Marvin (The Shadows). Worth a mint so i am told

[sumitomo]

In the Blues world really it's Roach Mulligan's ole Silvertone,man that axe was magic!and it survived the hotel room fire that he died in.Sumi:D

[pes_laul]

In my day and age it would be:

1.The double neck SG (though most people dont know who plays it)
2. Zakk Wyldes Les Paul
3.EVH frankenstrat

[Kodiak3D]

In my day and age it would be:

1.The double neck SG (though most people dont know who plays it)


I dunno. This guy kinda started the fad...
http://www.modernguitars.com/imagefiles/gibson/jimmypage/long.gif

However, I'm going to guess you mean Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria.

[markb]

I dunno. This guy kinda started the fad...


However, I'm going to guess you mean Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria.

Damn! I always thought it was the bloke out of Pilot. Dig those threads, man :dude

PFQ8Q9dDkD0

[Trailer Park Casanova]

Awe come on you guys,,,,
http://www.geocities.com/joelcrowservo/bassmainshot.jpg
Paul McCartneys Hofner.

[deeaa]

Yeah McCartney's bass would probably be one of the most known ones.

I'd say that and EVH's axe would be strong contenders.

You guys are thinking way too much like guitarists, and to top it off, mostly like American guitarists. Like that Clapton's guitar...even I have no clue as to what does Blackie look like..I always thought Clapton played a Les Paul for a good while at least, only in latter years some strats. And I play the guitar!

I'd bet NOBODY else than a guitar player would know for instance SRV's guitar. And outside america, probably only those guitarists who are into country stuff. I woulda never even heard of the guy if I didn't play the guitar - who would have?

Clapton's guitars? Very few would know them, although everyone knows the musician. BB's Lucille? Who the hell is BB King anyway? Led Zeppelin and Page's doubleneck would definitely be head and shoulders above in recognizability internationally than any of those.

But Beatles is known everywhere in the world. And, thanks to Pepsi, also Van Halen's guitar. I remember when the ads were on TV...most people had no idea who the dude playing the solo was, but everybody surely remembers the guitar, it was such a prominent feature in the ads for the 'New Generation'...so they might not be able to link that dude being in this old hardrock band that's quite popular in the U.S. and well known among guitarists - you'd tell them it's the guy who plays in the old hit 'Jump' and they'd know the band, but anyway...they'd recognize the guitar.

But hey, this is a very interesting thread...you know, I teach 800 people aged between 16 and 50, it'd be a very interesting thing to get color pics of all these guitars and make a poll whether they recognize any of them. If I remember to do that when I return to work...

[Kazz]

I dunno. This guy kinda started the fad...
http://www.modernguitars.com/imagefiles/gibson/jimmypage/long.gif

However, I'm going to guess you mean Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria.


Naah...I am going to go out on a limb and say he is talking about Steve "Steamin" Clark of Def Leppard. Steve is the reason that my personal fave Frank Hannon has a double neck SG.

[Kodiak3D]

You guys are thinking way too much like guitarists...


Well, uh, this is a guitar players' forum :D



BB's Lucille? Who the hell is BB King anyway?


OK, I was willing to overlook the fact that the world missed out on the country music, but you don't seriously expect me to believe you play guitar and have never heard of B.B. KING (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bb_king), the King of Blues?! :nope
http://cache.boston.com/resize/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2009/08/23/1251071851_2616/539w.jpg

You MUST look up some of his music. :poke
If for any reason, just so you will at least know who he is.

[Retro Hound]

I have trouble believing Finland is that isolated. I spent two years in Germany and BB King is not unknown internationally. Nor are many of the other artists that our Finnish friend has yet to discover.

[Trailer Park Casanova]

OK now you just quoted a whole bunch of complete unknowns more ;-) Yokam? Brooks? Gospel? Does somebody listen to it beside in southern churches?

Elvis and Lee I know of course.

James Burton's Telecaster? :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burton_Telecaster

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KJJ3fxEuv1w&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KJJ3fxEuv1w&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burton

[deeaa]

I have trouble believing Finland is that isolated. I spent two years in Germany and BB King is not unknown internationally. Nor are many of the other artists that our Finnish friend has yet to discover.

Well now that I connected the dots, yeah, he's even held concerts here.

What can I say - I guess I just don't know that many guitarists. I couldn't name guitarists from almost any of my favorite bands even. I listen to a lot of music but I don't care so much about who are the people who make it---neither I care much for lyrics and such, covers etc...I just care for the music. Hell 90% of the time I'm listening to my own iPod I don't even know what band it is that I listen to...I don't try to remember them, I find good music and listen to it but not so much remember band or record names and definitely not the names of the players.

But I remember guitars much better...I bet I could describe the guitars the players use much better than the players themselves, LOL. Whenever I watch a band live, it's what I watch..their equipment. But I go to gigs very rarely, maybe once a year or so, even more rarely than go out to a bar or something. Still, I remember exactly what gear and guitars the last band I saw live used, but I've forgotten the band name completely.

Actually, speaking of that, it may be more of a cultural thing. When I was working in the U.S. I felt strange about names; people would call each other by their names. That rarely happens here. We just say hello guy, just hello, or something like that. I knew that my name is hard to pronounce (it's Antti and it's pronounced sort of "N't-e", or "Unt-ee") so when people asked what's my name I just said 'call me whatever you wish'. But I got the impression people sometimes felt offended I didn't use or know their names, even if we'd met only like a few times. Hell, I still don't even know what's the real name of our own guitarist, I just know him by his nickname although I've known him since grade school. Same with the previous band, I never got to knowing the other guitarist's family name and I'm not entirely sure what the singer's surname is. They're all in my phonebook just by first names. My phone is full of names like 'the lespaul dude' or 'salesman' or whatever because I didn't get their names.

Names aren't so important here I guess...and I myself am terrible with names. I started working in my current workplace the first time 10 years ago and I still don't know most of my colleagues by full name. I know all but 2 in our room, though. I suppose its because I have like 800 new students every year...I don't even try to remember their names. Whenever they do class work and such, stuff I need to evaluate and write down grades etc. I always ask what was the name again. Sometimes they get also a bit insulted, especially if it's been a long all-year course or 100 hours or something.

Yeah...sometimes I feel like I know names especially badly, like when I started taking care of my Mom's monetary affairs and the bank clerk asked me what's her name, and I drew a complete blank for a few seconds, and then stumbled her second name first and used her maiden name while groping for the info in my memory...the teller sure gave me an odd look ;-)

[Monkus]

these three immediately come to mind, you can probably tell i grew up in the 80's...

http://www.thefret.net/imagehosting/thum_96594ad1ddfc0963a.jpg (http://www.thefret.net/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1329)

http://www.thefret.net/imagehosting/96594ad1de12a42d2.jpg (http://www.thefret.net/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1330)

http://www.thefret.net/imagehosting/thum_96594ad1de251f275.jpg (http://www.thefret.net/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1331)

[mrmudcat]

James Burton's Telecaster? :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burton_Telecaster

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KJJ3fxEuv1w&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KJJ3fxEuv1w&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burton

Great clip brother!!!!

[marnold]

Man, Burton looked like a kid in that clip. Of course, if it was from the year the song was recorded (1959), he WAS young. He only turned 20 in August of that year.

[pes_laul]

I dunno. This guy kinda started the fad...
http://www.modernguitars.com/imagefiles/gibson/jimmypage/long.gif

However, I'm going to guess you mean Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria.
Of course I know who jimmy page is :thwap

But not alot of other kids my age do

[Kodiak3D]

Of course I know who jimmy page is :thwap

But not alot of other kids my age do

...which is sad. Zeppelin has gained some popularity since the O2 concert and the Mothership CD release, but a Zeppelin Gutiar Hero or Rock Band would really make a difference (which Page was said will never happen).

[Perfect Stranger]

I'd say...mine...of course!

[Trailer Park Casanova]

...which is sad. Zeppelin has gained some popularity since the O2 concert and the Mothership CD release, but a Zeppelin Gutiar Hero or Rock Band would really make a difference (which Page was said will never happen).

He was with Robert Plant at a little restaurant in the desert above Calif's Yucca Valley.
They have homes near there we're told.
http://www.pappyandharriets.com/images/Robert_plant_pappy_and_harrTH.jpg

My daughter asked him about his "Sessions" as a working-for-wages studio recording musician. Pre-Zepplin.

He named a few tunes and bands he recorded for, but was never a member of the bands nor toured with them. "Played a few licks, pulled a check".
Hermans Hermits and the Searchers I think he also mentioned.
But I was on the rumside, so don't hold me to that.

You can tell his the sound of his fist if you listen closely to some of the old British invasion tunes.

- Or at least ya think ya do. Ahh, hell, I think I do.

http://www.pappyandharriets.com/ph_images/tmb00008.jpg

[Trailer Park Casanova]

Man, Burton looked like a kid in that clip. Of course, if it was from the year the song was recorded (1959), he WAS young. He only turned 20 in August of that year.

Today:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/JamesBurton%28by_Scott_Dudelson%29.jpg/239px-JamesBurton%28by_Scott_Dudelson%29.jpg

BTW, Who was/is "Scotty" that used to play with Elvis as well?

[wingsdad]

BTW, Who was/is "Scotty" that used to play with Elvis as well?
That would be his original sideman from the Sun sessions since 1954, Scotty Moore. Cool clip here from the '68 Comeback TV special...
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RAonlWEWYF8&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RAonlWEWYF8&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[Rampant]

Dudes

"Most famous guitar"

Too difficult. Yeah most guitarists will have heard of Lucille.... but would you recognise it without BB being in the picture.

Thinking more like "man in the street", I guess that for a guitar to be famous it probably needs to be recognisable on it's own and "man in the street" says, yeah, that' such-and-such's guitar.

For instance. Black Tele with black and white chequered pickguard equals Avril Lavigne.

Or. Union Jack liveried axe equals Oasis.

Also. Black Acoustic equals Johnny Cash.

Ultimately. Glossy red Strat equals Hank Marvin/The Shadows.

All depends on what you mean by "most famous guitar"

[sunvalleylaw]

Rampant, you have a strong point regarding "everyman". That is why I come back to Van Halen's frankenstrat. Known on its own enough for its motif and look to be copied by shoe companies, etc. And the VH demographic covers young kids to folks in their 40s and 50s.

[Perfect Stranger]

As bad as I hate to admit it.....EVH is probably correct. :(

[Blaze]

For the older guys , this one has to be near the first rank..


http://bluestormmusic.com/store/images/lee-alvin_saguitar.jpg

[Rampant]

Rampant, you have a strong point regarding "everyman". That is why I come back to Van Halen's frankenstrat. Known on its own enough for its motif and look to be copied by shoe companies, etc. And the VH demographic covers young kids to folks in their 40s and 50s.

Hmmmm. Copied by shoe companies!

Ladies and gentlemen. The "most famous" guitar. Eddie's frankenstrat. Probably. LOL :)

[rugbynyc]

Rampant, you have a strong point regarding "everyman". That is why I come back to Van Halen's frankenstrat. Known on its own enough for its motif and look to be copied by shoe companies, etc. And the VH demographic covers young kids to folks in their 40s and 50s.


Strictly speaking about non-guitarists. I would imagine that if you showed a random group of people pictures of the guitars mentioned in this thread, just guitars without guitarists in the picture, I would guess 2 things would happen:
1 a lot of people, maybe half would not recognize any of the guitars
2 of those that do, EVH frankenstrat would be most recognized.

That being said, I don't think it's the frankenstrat per se that's famous but the pattern painted on it that is famous.

[sunvalleylaw]

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/06/17/eddie-van-halen-sues-nike-over-guitars-signature-color-scheme/

Yeah, we talked about it here once. I don't think it is worth a lawsuit, but the design sure does bring to mind the frankenstrat. LOL!!

[Rampant]

http://www.thefret.net/imagehosting/thum_99684ad49c8360958.jpg ('http://www.thefret.net/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1332')

Contender?

[Tig]

Hmmmm. Copied by shoe companies!

Ladies and gentlemen. The "most famous" guitar. Eddie's frankenstrat. Probably. LOL :)

Just drop by VanHalenStore.com (I'm not kidding about the website!) for all your shoe needs!
http://forum.planetrock.co.uk/resized-image.ashx/__size/550x0/__key/CommunityServer.Discussions.Components.Files/11/4762.110496.jpg

Don't forget Nike's version... :rollover
http://blogue.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/van-halen-vs-nike-sb-lawsuit.jpg