Aptly nicknamed “Frankenstein,” this guitar was pieced together by Eddie Van Halen from modified factory seconds and mismatched odd-lot parts, then spray-painted. It represents an effort to combine some of the most desirable elements of Gibson and Fender guitars into a single instrument that was not commercially available at the time. Van Halen was continually striving to achieve the ultimate guitar for tone, playability, dependability, and functionality. The unique guitar embodies not only his groundbreaking and unorthodox playing style but also his ingenuity in design and engineering. One of the most recognizable guitars of all time, it spawned legions of copies from other manufacturers and inspired generations of fans to design their own instruments.

Although Kurt was seen playing a variety of Fender guitars over the years, his Fender Jaguar® and Mustang® remain the most iconic due to their use on the "Nevermind" tour and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" music video. Kurt designed the Jag-Stang® to combine his favorite elements of both instruments and brought it to life with help from the Fender Custom Shop in 1993.

Criminally underrated. Player and vocalist.

‘The Black Strat’ was integral to the recording of Pink Floyd’s seminal masterpiece The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973), as well as follow-up albums Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979), LPs which form the four cornerstones of the classic-era Pink Floyd.

Brian May and his father Harold started to hand-build an electric guitar in 1963 – a project that would take over a year to complete. Brian dreamed of a guitar that would outperform any of the existing commercially-made electric guitars; his father had the technical knowledge and skills to help make the dream come true. The book describes in detail the creative lengths father and son went to in order to construct the guitar. They were incredibly resourceful, using any materials they could get their hands on; the neck of the guitar was constructed from wood from an 18th-century fireplace mantel that a friend of the family was about to throw away and each of the position inlays was hand shaped from a mother-of-pearl button. Previously unseen original sketches, diagrams and notes accompany the text. For the last 50 years The Red Special has been the guitar that Brian played on every Queen album, in all of Queen’s live shows around the world and on the most special of occasions.

You can see where Alexi Laiho (RIP) got his inspiration for his signature ESPs.

From blistering British Invasion beginnings through a long and acclaimed solo career of remarkable stylistic versatility, Jeff Beck has taken the Stratocaster to unbelievable sonic heights, with one of the most distinctive musical voices ever coaxed from the instrument. With classic style and special features, make his sound and style your own with the Jeff Beck Stratocaster, which ranks among Fender's most popular and longstanding artist instruments.

Designed by Dutch co-operative The Fool. Guitar was also owned at various times by Geo. Harrison, Jackie Lomax and Todd Rundgren.

Jimi Hendrix took the world by storm with his incredible Monterey Pop Festival performance, which he concluded with the sacrificial burning of his now-iconic hand-painted Stratocaster. Destroyed during the fiery culmination of his set, this one-of-a-kind guitar survived only in photos and film.

Sometime between the 1967 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band sessions and the June 25 live global telecast of “All You Need is Love,” Harrison’s beloved Stratocaster morphed into what the world now knows as “Rocky.” In a fit of inspiration, he grabbed a brush and some Day-Glo paint to give the instrument a multicolored psychedelic makeover. Instead of the iconic Sonic Blue finish, its top and headstock were now adorned with bright red, green, yellow and orange accents, making it truly stand out on stage. Harrison even painted “Bebopalula” on the upper body, “Go Cat Go” on the pickguard and Rocky on the headstock in December of 1969.

“The polka dots are because that’s the style of my mother, Isabell Guy,” Buddy told a writer in an unpublished excerpt for an interview in 2015.
 “There’s a long story behind that,” he says. “I promised her that I was going to buy her a polka dot Cadillac to make her feel better, because she had had a stroke and she never saw me play, so I always felt I was lying to her about being a musician! I was going to get famous and drive back to Louisiana in a polka dot Cadillac to show her I’d made it.”


I was lucky enough to see Led Zeppelin in 2007!

Terry Kath's main guitar - the one with which he is most identified, and which accompanied him on the journey to cult status - is a most unusual 1966 Telecaster, completely customized and plastered with stickers. Kath was so attached to the guitar that he'd buy a seat just for the instrument when traveling by air, rather than entrusting it to airline baggage handlers or even Chicago's road crew. The Tele® was an amalgamation of highly personalized modifications, including a sawed-off Tele bridge with a synchronized Strat® tremolo, a humbucking neck pickup, custom body routes, a reverse control plate, custom tuning machines and three "wing" string trees. Adorned with Pignose stickers and other intricately placed regalia, the guitar has become legendary in of itself and is synonymous with Kath and his enduring musical legacy.

Excellent. I figure that creating this image must have been a bit like artificially aging the finish of a real guitar—applying all the wear and tear to its top and pickguard and everything. I also like the detailed structure of the rosewood fretboard. — A detail that makes the style of these graphics even more unique are the red outlines.

Paul McCartney has played his Höfner violin bass since 1961 when he purchased it whilst playing, with The Beatles, at the Top Ten Club in Hamburg, Germany. He is still playing a violin bass, a 1963 model that he has owned from new, and used on more recordings and played at more gigs than can be counted.

Not a Strat but self built from different parts.

Pete Townshend is known for his aggressive showmanship, which includes his “windmill” strumming technique and destruction of his instruments. This guitar was one of nine numbered guitars used on tour with the Who in 1975, each set to specific tunings and capo settings for various songs. This organization, along with a customized strap-lock system, was developed by Townshend’s guitar tech Alan Rogan. The headstock for this instrument snapped off after a December 23, 1975, show at London’s Hammersmith Odeon as the guitar came flying out of a second-story window, breaking into two pieces when it hit the ground. In 2002, the body and headstock were reunited and restored by luthier Cristian Mirabella.