I don’t know about you, but from an early age one of the things that attracted me to rock music was the guitars. I think I thought of them as sort of magical things that could sculpt noise out of the air, not just a 12-note instrument. Those who could play them were magicians having access to this secret world of wizardry and were extraordinary individuals.
Certain guitars became iconic of the scene they existed in, a partner in crime for the player, wailing a sonic siren call. The shape was important. I had a big poster on my wall of Clapton playing a Gibson Firebird, or it may have been an Explorer and that fascinated me, even though it wasn’t a guitar he played often.
But the most stunning guitar for me was Alvin Lee’s Big Red. Adorned with symbols and stickers, it was elevated from just being a Gibson 335. It somehow embodied him and the late 60’s early 70’s scene.
Think about it, the guitars are how we know so many bands. Twin Les Paul’s? Thin Lizzy. Battered Stratocaster? Rory. Flying V? Wishbone Ash and Michael Schenker. Black Les Paul with a Bigsby whammy bar? Neil Young.
Then there were the painted guitars, foremost is The Fool 1964 Gibson SG which Eric owned, passed to George, Jackie Lomax and Todd, who sold it in 2000 to pay a tax debt. It’s now owned by Jim Irslay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts. It has become a psychedelic icon, symbolic of an era, as is George’s painted Stratocaster Rocky guitar now owned by son Dhani. And do you remember Jimmy Page’s Dragon Slayer 1959 Telecaster? He played the Stairway solo on it. He apparently still has it though a friend painted over it and ruined it in the process. That twin-neck Gibson is almost a byword for the power of rock and symbolises so much.
I saw Todd’s perspex guitar at some Hard Rock in the shape of an Egyptian symbol that he played on the RA tour. I nearly cried. It seemed invested with so much almost tangible brilliance. Like all of them, it is so much more than wires and magnets and strings of steel.
Some guitars were thought different and special in their tone, like that sweet tone on Peter Green’s gold top Les Paul, later owned by Gary Moore and Johnny Winter’s Firebird. Bernie Marsden had ‘the beast’. Jerry Garcia’s guitars were crafted things. Hendrix’s psychedelic Flying V is in a Hard Rock somewhere, I think. Steve Howe still plays that ES-175. Tony Iommi still plays an SG, as does Angus Young and you can’t imagine them not doing so.
Perhaps more amazing is the famous players who don’t play a distinctive guitar. I don’t associate a specific guitar with Ritchie Blackmore, though he is synonymous with the Strat. When I see photos of Pete Townshend not playing an SG, it just doesn’t look right. It’s the same when Eddie Van Halen didn’t play the Frankenstrat.
Before gigs, especially in the 70s, there was always a gaggle of people at the front by the stage, gawping at the equipment. They were all like me and wanted to access the conduits for the mysterious sound. Does this happen anymore? I suppose it does to shredders and people like Joe Satriani. But guitars seem much less iconic of an era than they once were. Less mysterious too.
Guitars - A secret world of wizardry...
