Famous Guitars of Bluesman . . .

by Play Blues Guitar

(Learn blues guitar from the ground up)

Published:  September 8th, 2008

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When it comes to music, the instrument is often an extension of the player behind it. The blues definitely agrees. Some of the famous blues guitarists have unique and recognizable guitars. Some styles of guitars even bring to mind their respective players. Without further ado, here are a few of the famous guitars of famous bluesmen.

 

‘Lucille’ played by B.B. King

The famous story behind the famous name is that one night in 1949, B.B. was playing in a bar when two men got into a fight over a girl and knocked over a kerosene heater (basically a barrel full of lit kerosene). The place went up in flames and everyone ran out. However, B.B. realized that he left his guitar inside and ran to save it. He nearly lost his life, but named his guitar and subsequent guitars Lucille after the girl the two men fought over.

The modern and most famous iteration of Lucille is a custom black Gibson ES-355 with Lucille printed on the headstock. B.B. has been playing this version for nearly 25 years. It’s pictured here.

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‘Blackie’ played by Eric Clapton

Arguably the most famous Fender Stratocaster ever, ‘Blackie’ was the nickname for a Frankenstein of a guitar assembled by Eric from three different Strats. Purchased from Sho-Bud guitar shop in Nashville, Tennessee, he combined the best components to create ‘Blackie’. Eric played it live and in the studio from its creation in 1970 to 1985, when he retired Blackie. Contrary to the many rumors that state otherwise, ‘Blackie’ was reportedly 100% playable during her retired years.

‘Blackie’ was sold at an auction for a record $959,500 to the Guitar Center, who proudly displays the guitar.

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‘Number One’ played by Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray’s ‘Number One’ was a 1973 sunburst model traded for at Ray’s Music Exchange in Austin, Texas with Stevie’s old ’63 strat. Beaten and bastardized, the guitar remained his main axe since that day. Although the original had a white pickguard and strangely hot ’59 pickups, Stevie replaced the pickguard with a pickguard featuring the now famous SRV lettering. Remarkably, Stevie had the frets replaced with jumbo bass style frets while he played on a reportedly .013 gauge high E string. (Stevie often changed the high E from a .013 to a .012 or .011 because of how much damage the .013 caused to his fingers.)

‘Number One’ now resides with Stevie’s brother Jimmie. It’s been permanently retired in memory of Stevie.

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‘Polka Dot Strat’ played by Buddy Guy

While not as famous as the other listed here, this guitar deserves recognition if only for its unique paint job. Comprised of white polka dots on a black finish, this strat has been serving as Buddy Guy’s main guitar for years now. Originally a custom artist series, made especially for Buddy, Fender has recently created a similar guitar with an inverted paint scheme and lace sensors.

The Polka Dot Strats remain road worthy and accompany Buddy to most of his live shows.

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‘Ex-Sunburst’ played by Rory Gallagher

Called the ‘Ex-Sunburst’ by fans for its lack of a finish (worn away by heavy use and sweating) as much as for Rory’s refusal to give it a name, this famous guitar happens to be one of the first Fender Strats in Ireland in 1961. Rory bought it for an estimated £100. Heavily modified, the guitar had one different tuner, all new pickups, and modified pickguard.

The ‘Ex-Sunburst’ resides with Rory’s brother, Donal Gallagher. It isn’t played.

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It’s so important to the semi-pro as well as the professional guitarist to feel that bond with at least one of their guitars; even when they typically have some type of collection of a variety of guitars that they can choose from on every gig.  It is that one special ax that over the years has become their staple or icon that they feel most comfortable playing.  Of course the top artists are given guitars from major instrument lines such as Gibson, Fender, PRS or Yamaha to play LIVE on stage so they get the notoriety of the artist’s approval and the artist has the opportunity to try a multitude of different, newer models. But they always turn back to their ‘Old-Faithful’ sometime during their gig.  It’s pretty typical of all of them.

I hope you enjoyed this post; I urge you to write me with any comments or suggestions you may have for anything else that you would like me to cover.  I want 2012 to be a powerful year for ‘Musician By Night’ and without your input, it’ll never happen.

Therefore, until next time ~

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Musician By Night . . .