These four guitars are just as iconic as the musicians who play them. They are so well-known they’ve been personified, given names that suit the music they helped create. Revisit these four guitars and the icons that made them famous below.
Willie Nelson’s Trigger
Willie Nelson’s Martin N-20 is called Trigger. The iconic cowboy guitar got an apt name. Named after Roy Rogers’ trusty steed, this guitar has been just as foundational in Nelson’s career.
“One of the secrets to my sound is almost beyond explanation,” Nelson once said. “My battered old Martin guitar, Trigger, has the greatest tone I’ve ever heard from a guitar…We’re both pretty old, got a few scars here and there, but we still manage to make a sound every now and then.” It’s the perfect guitar for Nelson and his enduring career.
B.B. King’s Lucille
Next, we have B.B. King’s iconic Lucille. This isn’t just one guitar, but the many guitars King played. He got the name after a fight broke out in a dance hall between two men over a woman named Lucille. The tussle started a fire that nearly burned up King’s guitar. As a reminder not to be so cavalier about where he lays his instrument, he named the guitars he played after the woman.
“I’m very crazy about Lucille,” King once said. “Lucille took me from the plantation; you might say, brought me fame.” Because King made this guitar famous (or vice versa), the instrument has become a rock & roll icon in its own right.
Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstrat
As the name would indicate, Eddie Van Halen’s instrument was an amalgamation of different guitar bodies he assembled himself. To get his iconic tone, he needed something that wasn’t on the market, which eventually became known as the Frankenstrat.
“If you have a great-sounding guitar that’s a quality instrument and a good amp, and you know how to make the guitar talk, that’s the key,” Van Halen once said. “It starts with the guitar and knowing what it should sound and feel like.” He certainly had a vision for what that should be, given he literally constructed his guitar out of thin air.
Brian May’s Red Special
Queen’s Brian May also has a signature guitar, The Red Special. Without even seeing it, one could probably guess what it looks like. He and his father famously built this guitar, creating an icon in the process.
“I can only really get my sound with the guitar I created with my dad, or a copy of it,” he once said of this singular instrument. “It’s an extension of me and always will be.”
Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images
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