5 Iconic Guitars and the Stories Behind Them

Date:2020/3/3 11:15:27 Hits:

In the world of guitars, there is a revered collection of instruments that has managed to be as awe-inducing as the players who own them. Many of them, including Van Halen’s Frankenstein, Hendrix’s Monterey Strat, and B.B. King’s Lucille, are so well known that their stories, creation, and in some cases destruction have been well documented through the years.

But those Holy Grail instruments only tell the tale of a small sliver of music history. We wanted to shed some light on a few other game-changing axes. While we do address some guitars and basses from rock’s heyday that are too good to miss, we wanted to move the clock ahead a bit.

As our conceptions of classic become more 1990s than 1960s, we thought we’d also take a look at a handful of instruments that inspired a whole new generation of players.

Kurt Cobain’s Fender Jag-Stang

The Fender Jag-Stang (a fusion of the names Jaguar and Mustang) is another unfortunate reminder of what rock ‘n’ roll had and ultimately lost in the life of Kurt Cobain.

In a time of super-Strats and Floyd Rose tremolos, Cobain was famously drawn to the quirkier designs of 1960s-era Fenders. In an interview with Guitar World magazine in 1992, Cobain stated, “Out of all of the guitars in the world, the Fender Mustang is my favorite. They’re cheap and totally inefficient, and they sound like crap and are very small.”

But Cobain also had a cherished 1960s Jaguar (previously re-created and reissued by Fender). So in a spark of inspiration, Cobain took Polaroids of his favorite models, combined them, and added his own handwritten notes. He then sent the design on to Fender, and the Jag-Stang ball got rolling. Much of that original design is accounted for on the Jag-Stangs Fender produced through parts of the 1990s and 2000s.

Kurt received the first blue Jag-Stang prototype and played it sporadically on tour, while taking notes on what he liked and still wanted changed. But by the time the second prototype was prepped to be shipped to the Seattle legend, the world was rocked by his passing.

After Cobain’s death, the first prototype was given to R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, who famously used the left-handed guitar upside down in his band’s video for “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?”

Today, the Jag-Stang is enjoying a bit of a renaissance as it’s discovered by a new wave of alternative and rock bands that lean heavily on their Fender offsets. You can even find an online registry for the Jag-Stang, where owners and fans congregate to celebrate the signature model that sort of was.

Tom Morello’s “Arm The Homeless” Custom

In keeping with the theme of handwritten statements across guitars known for their massively heavy contributions to rock, Tom Morello’s Arm The Homeless custom creation has definitely earned its place on this list.

Like many of us, Morello started out as a guitarist with more passion for guitars than financial ability to afford them. But after working what the guitarist calls, “crummy Hollywood jobs,” he was able to save enough to afford what was supposed to be a custom 6-string dream machine. Fortunately for us, things didn’t quite go as planned.

“I went to this place in Hollywood that builds guitars. You go to this place, check off all these boxes, and they build it for you,” explained Morello. “They made me the ___ guitar in the world.”

Completely underwhelmed by his new acquisition, Morello spent his time upgrading every aspect of the guitar over and over, on a disheartening quest to bring the guitar up to his expectation. Morello eventually replaced every piece of the instrument other than the body wood itself, resulting in a custom body, graphite neck with hockey stick headstock, EMG pickups, and an Ibanez locking tremolo — not to mention the guitar’s sneering statement boldly emblazoned across the top.

Eventually, Morello accepted that the guitar was never going to offer him what he was looking for. So pragmatism took over and he endeavored to find the best use for the guitar’s unique sound. And it’s that acceptance that led to the devastatingly heavy sounds that have accompanied the sonic architect’s pummeling riffs, DJ scratches, and otherworldly squeals throughout his career in Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, Prophets of Rage, and more.

Oh, and in case you were wondering why there are multiple hippos drawn over the guitar, Morello explains it this way: “They’re literally the only thing I can draw.”

Peter Frampton’s Phoenix

With a history that includes being on one of the biggest albums of all time, surviving a plane crash, causing an international incident with a foreign dictator, being separated from its owner for decades, and finally finding a monumental reunion, Peter Frampton’s Phoenix Les Paul may take the cake for rock ‘n’ roll guitar stories.

In 1970, when Peter Frampton was looking for a replacement for his feedback-prone Gibson ES-335, a friend and fan gave him a heavily customized 1954 Les Paul Custom. The guitar had received an additional pickup, had the body sanded down to be thinner, and had the neck shape altered. But as soon as it hit Frampton’s hands, he knew it was the one.

This guitar, affectionately now known as the Phoenix, is the guitar you hear all over Frampton’s seminal live album, Frampton Comes Alive!, singing with a tone that will live on forever in the history of rock. But after years and years of remaining loyal to his beloved LP, fate stepped in.

After finishing a show in Venezuela, the band boarded a plane to Panama, with their gear to follow in a cargo plane. Upon takeoff, the cargo plane tipped and came to a fiery crash that tragically took the lives of the crew and, they assumed, destroyed all the band’s equipment, including Frampton’s beloved Les Paul.

Heartbroken, Frampton was forced to cancel the performance in Panama, which didn’t sit well with the country’s infamous leadership. “Noriega’s people got nasty,” remembers Frampton. “We had to escape from Panama.”

For 32 years, the guitar was believed to have been destroyed in the crash. But if there was a silver lining to the story, it’s that the guitar had actually fallen out of the plane in time to not be burned to a crisp. Though it had sustained severe damage, the guitar continued to be playable.

It was recovered and sold to a local guitarist in Curacao, continuing to be played and loved. But years later, when the guitarist brought it in to part-time luthier Donald Valentina for a setup, the tech quickly recognized that this guitar had much more history than met the eye. Valentina convinced the guitarist, after some time, to sell him the guitar. A trip to Nashville, Tennessee, was booked, and Valentina personally delivered Frampton’s long-lost partner back into its rightful owner’s hands.

Bo Diddley’s “Twang Machine” Gretsch

When you picture Bo Diddley, it’s impossible not to imagine the legendary rock and blues progenitor without his trusty Twang Machine Gretsch. That rectangle-shaped 6-string is as seared into music lore as many of the man’s hit recordings. But what many don’t know is how Mr. Diddley came up with such an outlandish design that continues to draw second glances to this day.

When Bo “Ellas McDaniel” Diddley was a child in McComb, Mississippi, his fascination with blues and the local folk music took flight. Many of the musicians he came into contact with fashioned their own instruments — known as diddley bows — from cigar boxes and wire. The square body stuck with Diddley through the years, as did, apparently, the name.

As Diddley’s career grew, he became known for his electrifying performances and high-energy stage presence. One unfortunate night the rocker would probably like to forget, while performing his calling-card wild stage antics, Diddley came down awkwardly, slamming his then-main guitar, a Gibson L5, into the more sensitive parts of his body. He knew instantly that it was time to design a smaller-bodied guitar that would allow him to stay upright throughout a performance.

In 1958, Diddley worked with Gretsch guitars to create his now-iconic Twang Machine. The guitar sported the rectangle body that was inspired by the old diddley bows he played in his younger years. And the guitar’s body was kept small, to avoid any other unfortunate events.

While the guitar’s look never caught on as the go-to rock ‘n’ roll instrument, it became so synonymous with Diddley that multiple versions were created throughout the years and continue to inspire Gretsch models today.

Brent Mason’s Tele

Brent Mason is a king of the Fender Telecaster. And he got there on an unassuming guitar that is now one of the most recorded country guitars of all time, a primer-covered, heavily modified, 1968 Tele.

When Mason first arrived in Nashville, his prodigious chops won him the guitar position in Don Kelley’s legendary band. But while Kelley was impressed with young Mason’s playing, he was less thrilled with the Hagstrom Swede guitar that accompanied it. “He goes, ‘That’s not the guitar for Nashville,'” joked Mason. “You need to get a Tele or a Strat.”

So Kelley and Mason headed to a local guitar shop and each picked up his very own Telecaster. The one Kelley chose had seen better days. It was a 1968 model that had previously had its finish stripped and been re-covered with automotive primer. Yet that night, while performing, Mason realized that he much preferred the sound of that beat-up Tele to his new guitar. Kelley offered to swap guitars on the spot, and Mason’s iconic guitar was now in his sole possession.

As an up-and-coming Nashville session ace, Mason needed to quickly access a plethora of guitar tones but couldn’t afford his own stable of instruments. So thanks to Nashville’s famed luthier and repairman Joe Glaser, the primer-covered ’68 was outfitted with a Seymour Duncan Stack in the middle position (wired with its own volume control), a Gibson mini humbucker in the neck position, and another Seymour Duncan Vintage Stack in the bridge. This allows Mason to blend in Strat-ier or Gibson-esque tones on the fly.

It’s also this sonic flexibility that makes this Tele’s voice perfect to accompany songs and albums by such seminal country acts as Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, and many, many more.

While there have been different versions and re-creations of Mason’s beloved ’68 through the years, as well as an extremely well-regarded signature model by Paul Reed Smith, it’s the workhorse that he traded for in the early 1980s that continues to propel one of the most successful session musicians in Nashville history.

From defiant slogans to #1 hit makers, the guitars on this list represent just one more layer of memorable 6- and 4-strings that are sure to live on in music history. But as with music itself, musicians and their instruments are ever changing. Hopefully right now, there is a kid woodshedding a new sound, song, or technique that will put their name forever in lights. And if they do it on just the right guitar or bass, at just the right time, in just the right place, their instrument may just find itself in an article like this one, relegating these legendary axes to the overly documented list of iconic guitars. Here’s hoping.

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