The Most Famous Guitars and Their Owners

Many musicians are just as known for their instruments as they are for their music. When a rockstar plays their one-of-a-kind guitar on stage, people take notice and feel the excitement. Here are the most famous guitars and their owners.

Lucille and BB King

BB King is famous for using his beloved “Lucille” whenever he performed. The black Gibson semi-hollow electric guitar bears the namesake of a woman who set a fire that almost claimed King and his guitar. You can imagine the emotional tension that an instrument like that can release! Though he used many Gibsons, he named them all Lucille, keeping with this strong connection to the scorched past.

Blackie and Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton is known for his technical skill and deft guitar playing. However, he couldn’t have done it without his instrument, “Blackie.” A Fender Stratocaster, Clapton had this beauty custom-built from three other Stratocasters. In fact, Fender custom shop guitars are some of the most well-known guitars in all music. Blackie was named for its color and served as his performance guitar. Eric Clapton eventually sold Blackie at auction to support his rehab center.

Double-Neck Gibson and Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin made the double-necked guitar famous. Page’s double-necked Gibson bore no name but wielded plenty of pizzazz. With twelve strings on top and six on the bottom, this instrument is renowned for making “Stairway to Heaven” a top hit.

Cloud and Prince

Prince was an outstanding vocalist and performer, so he needed a guitar just as flashy and sleek as he was. He had a Minneapolis luthier custom build the guitar, “Cloud.” This white, curvy guitar was the centerpiece of Prince’s “Purple Rain” video. From then on, people considered it his signature instrument.

Axe Bass and Gene Simmons

KISS is a band built on the power of theatrics in musical performance. So when Gene Simmons contracted the luthier Steve Carr to custom build a guitar, you know it would match the band’s gruesome horror theatrics. Enter the Axe Bass. Built to make his demonic character authentic, the Axe Bass has been Simmons’ go-to guitar throughout his career.

History will always add more names to the list of the most famous guitars and their owners. But these men and their guitars are some of the most iconic to ever rule the stage.