LIT Top 10 List
The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The Les Paul was designed by Gibson president Ted McCarty, factory manager John Huis and their team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typical design features a solid mahogany body with a carved maple top and a single cutaway, a mahogany set-in neck with a rosewood fretboard, two pickups with independent volume and tone controls, and a stoptail bridge, although variants exist.
The Les Paul was originally offered with a gold finish and two P-90 pickups. In 1957, humbucking pickups were added, along with sunburst finishes in 1958. The sunburst 1958–1960 Les Paul – today one of the best-known electric guitar types in the world – was considered a failure, with low production and sales. For 1961, the Les Paul was redesigned into what is now known as the Gibson SG. The original single-cutaway, carved top bodystyle was re-introduced in 1968. The Les Paul has been produced in many versions and editions since. Along with Fender's Telecaster and Stratocaster, it was one of the first mass-produced electric solid-body guitars. Due to their versatility, Les Paul electric guitars have been used in a wide range of music genres, including rock, country, pop, soul, rhythm and blues, blues, jazz, reggae, punk, and heavy metal.
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the "Tele", is the world's first commercially successful solid-body electric guitar. Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music. Introduced for national distribution as the Broadcaster in the autumn of 1950, it was the first guitar of its kind manufactured on a substantial scale and has been in continuous production in one form or another since its first incarnation.
Just like the Fender Stratocaster, the Telecaster is also a versatile guitar, usable for most styles of music and has been used in many genres, including country, reggae, rock, pop, folk, soul, blues, jazz, punk, metal, alternative, indie, and R&B.
The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial semi-hollowbody electric guitar, sometimes known as "thinline hollow-body" or semi-acoustic. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES (Electric Spanish) series in 1958, it is neither fully hollow nor fully solid; instead, a solid maple wood block runs through the center of its body. The side "wings" formed by the two "cutaways" into its upper bouts are hollow, and the top has two violin-style f-holes over the hollow chambers.
Notable users include Chuck Berry, Alvin Lee, Larry Carlton, Elliott Smith, Noel Gallagher, Marty McFly, portrayed by Michael J. Fox in Back To The Future, Carl Wilson, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Chuck Brown, and Alex Lifeson.
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson and George Fullerton, and completed by Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously manufactured the Stratocaster from 1954 to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top "horn" shape for balance like the Precision Bass guitar. Along with the Gibson Les Paul and Fender Telecaster, it is one of the most-often emulated electric guitar shapes. "Stratocaster" and "Strat" are trademark terms belonging to Fender. Guitars that duplicate the Stratocaster by other manufacturers are usually called S-Type or ST-type guitars.
The archetypical Stratocaster is a solid-body electric guitar with a contoured asymmetric double-cutaway body with an extended upper horn; the body is usually made from alder or ash. The neck is usually made from maple and attached to the body with screws (often referred to as "bolts") and has a distinctive headstock with six tuning pegs mounted inline along a single side; the fingerboard may be maple or another wood, e.g. rosewood, and has at least twenty-one frets. The Stratocaster's body is front-routed for electronics, which are mounted in a plastic pickguard. Most Stratocasters have three single-coil pickups, a pickup selector switch, one volume control and two tone controls. Pivoting "tremolo" bridges are common, balanced by springs mounted in a rear cavity, and the bridge has six individually adjustable saddles whose height and intonation can be set independently. The output jack is mounted in a recess in the front of the guitar body. Many different colours have been available. The Stratocaster's scale length is 25.5 inches (648 mm).
There have been minor changes to the design over the years and models with features that differ from the archetypical design. However, the essential character of the design has remained constant.
The Rickenbacker 360/12 is a semi-hollow body with set neck construction electric guitar made by the Rickenbacker company; it was among the first electric twelve-string guitars. This instrument is the 12 string variant of the Rickenbacker 360. Rickenbacker uses an innovative headstock design that incorporates both a slotted-style peghead and a solid peghead, thereby eliminating the need for the larger headstock normally associated with a twelve-string guitar.
Another feature unique to Rickenbacker twelve-strings is the ordering of the courses. Most twelve-strings have the octave course on the bass side of the standard course; Rickenbacker reverses this convention. This feature along with the semi-hollow body design and thru-body neck structure contribute to its unique timbre. The 360/12 was given worldwide attention when George Harrison used it on many Beatles recordings, introducing the distinctive new sound of this guitar on "I Call Your Name", which the band recorded in March 1964. In the late 1960s, the company made alternative models such as the Rickenbacker 370/12, which became the favored instrument of Roger McGuinn of the Byrds.
The Gibson Flying V is an electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1958. The Flying V offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its siblings: the Explorer, which was released the same year and the Moderne, which was designed in 1957 but not released until 1982.
Gibson manufactured prototypes of the guitar in 1957. Production guitars were made of korina wood, a trademarked name for limba, a wood similar to but lighter in color than mahogany. This Flying V, along with the Futura (Explorer) and, initially, the Moderne, made up a line of modernist guitars designed by Gibson's then-president Ted McCarty. These designs were meant to add a more futuristic aspect to Gibson's image, but they did not sell well. After the initial launch in 1958, the line was discontinued by 1959. Some instruments were assembled from leftover parts and shipped in 1963, with nickel- rather than gold-plated hardware.
McCarty started out with a mahogany guitar that was rounded in the back instead of being cut out. Gibson decided to change the back for weight reduction.
Pioneering blues-rock guitarist Lonnie Mack and famed blues guitarist Albert King started using the guitar almost immediately. Mack used his 1958 Flying V almost exclusively during his long career. As it was seventh off the inaugural year's assembly line, he named it "Number 7". King used his original 1958 instrument into the mid-70s and later replaced it with various custom Flying Vs. Later, in the mid-late 1960s, such guitarists as Dave Davies, in search of a distinctive looking guitar with a powerful sound, also started using Flying Vs. The renewed interest created a demand for Gibson to reissue the model.
The Gretsch 6120 is a hollow body electric guitar with f-holes, manufactured by Gretsch and first appearing in the mid-1950s with the endorsement of Chet Atkins. It was quickly adopted by rockabilly artists Eddie Cochran, Duane Eddy, and later by Eric Clapton, Brian Setzer, Reverend Horton Heat, and many others. Pete Townshend received one as a gift from Joe Walsh in 1970, which he would later use on recordings for Who's Next and Quadrophenia. Poison Ivy Rorschach of The Cramps notably played a 1958 Gretsch 6120, which she bought in 1985. She said it was her favourite guitar to play. Emulating Brian Setzer, Chie Horiguchi plays a 6120 and pays tribute to the model with her tune "6120," which she recorded with her band the Wolf Baits. After George Harrison played Gretsch Country Gentleman and Tennessean models (which, like the 6120, were developed with and endorsed by Chet Atkins), Gretsch found that they could scarcely keep up with demand.
The 6120 was the first in the line of "Chet Atkins" signature Gretsch Guitars. The prototype for the 6120 was first presented to Chet Atkins in 1954 and was labeled as a Streamliner Special with the serial number 13753. A second prototype was made, adding a vibrato tailpiece and a metal nut. Both prototypes had an unbound headstock, which didn't carry over to the production models of the 6120 when it debuted in 1955.
In 1960, Gibson Les Paul sales were significantly lower than in previous years. The following year, the Les Paul was given a thinner, flat-topped mahogany body, a double cutaway which made the upper frets more accessible, and a contoured body. The neck joint was moved by three frets to further ease access to the upper frets. The simpler body construction significantly reduced production costs, and the new Les Paul, with its slender neck profile and small heel was advertised as having the "fastest neck in the world".
The SG generally has a solid mahogany body, with a black pickguard. The 24.75" scale mahogany neck joins the body at the 19th or 22nd fret. Early models had a smaller neck joint with a longer tenon. This neck design provided access above the 16th fret. Epiphone-made bolt-on neck models still use a 16th fret neck joint. The SG's set neck is shallower than the Gibson Les Paul's. The SG features the traditional Gibson combination of two or three humbucker pickups or P90 pickups and a Tune-o-matic bridge assembly, wraparound bridge, or vibrato tailpiece, depending on the model.
Frequently referred to as "that rectangular guitar", Bo Diddley’s "Twang Machine" is the one most closely associated with the very early days of rock music on this list. The greatly influential blues / rock musician first created the rectangular-shaped guitar with Gretsch in 1958. He drew his inspiration from old homemade instruments by folk musicians, who made guitars out of cigar boxes. According to Diddley himself, the necessity for an instrument with a smaller body came after an incident with a Gibson L5, where he jumped around the stage a bit too much and eventually hit his groin with the guitar. We're not sure how the Twang Machine’s sharp corners are any safer, though.
Bo Diddley built his first guitar from a rectangular piece of wood fitted with a pickup made from Victrola turntable parts. He was one of the first electric guitarists to collaborate directly with instrument makers on adventurous designs, including this “Twang Machine” and other radically shaped guitars based on the modernistic curves of luxury automobiles. Diddley introduced the “hambone” rhythm to American popular music through his eponymous 1955 hit single. The “Bo Diddley beat” strongly influenced other early rock and roll musicians, including Buddy Holly, whose hit “Not Fade Away” features the rhythm prominently.
The Quint Neck Guitar (also known as a five neck guitar) consists of 5 guitar necks, hardware and pick-ups in one oversized body, used by Rick Nielsen from the rock band Cheap Trick.
The guitar's birth was first conceived on ruled note book paper by musician Rick Nielsen during one of his frequent scribble sessions. He brought the idea to his manufacturer (Hamer Guitars) to build. The original design sought by Rick was a circular guitar allowing him to spin the guitar from neck to neck. This design was scrapped by Hamer due to weight and logistical issues.
Rick Nielsen and Bobby Demonic both have employed several five necks over the years. Nielsen's original "orange Quint neck" with dove tail jointed necks, was retired in the mid-1990s after the top neck snapped off after years of abuse. It was replaced by a black and white with 1/2 inch checkers (Rick's unofficial trademark).