Guitars, page 4

Ibanez

AZ

2018

Ibanez made its name on the pointy one. The AZ is for the player who put it down.

Jackson

Rhoads

1981

Randy Rhoads drew it on a scrap of paper. He got about a year with it. A generation of metal kids got the rest.

Jackson

Kelly

1983

It’s named after a guitarist from an Australian band called Heaven. Marty Friedman is why you know it.

Jackson

Soloist

1984

Grover Jackson took the Strat shape and ran the maple neck straight through it. Jeff Beck’s was pink.

Jackson

King V

1985

It started as a giant V for a giant guitarist. Then Jackson cut the wings down so everyone else could wear it.

Jackson

Warrior

1989

Four points, a neck straight through, and no polite angle anywhere. Some players see it once and that’s that.

James Trussart

SteelCaster

1983

A Telecaster shape in hollow steel, left outside to rust on purpose, so no two could ever match.

James Tyler

Studio Elite

1987

Built in a North Hollywood shop with no sign, for the session players whose names were in the small print.

Jerry Jones

Single Cutaway

1990

A Sears guitar came in for a setup and left Jerry Jones holding the blueprint.

Kawai

Moonsault

1978

Fifty thousand guitars a month with other people’s names on them. Then Kawai had to draw its own.

Kay

Thin Twin

1952

Kay gave it a catalog number. Chicago blues gave it a name: the Jimmy Reed.

Ken Smith

BSR

1996

Ken Smith drew his first bass for playing sitting down. The BSR is the one he drew for standing up.

Kiesel

Osiris

2018

Kiesel’s Vader went headless with a neck-through. People asked for a bolt-on. The Osiris is the bolt-on.

Klein Electric

1200S

1989

Twelve years of ugly guitars, one talk with Ned Steinberger, and a drawing that took half an hour.

Knaggs

Severn

2010

Twenty-four years building other people’s guitars. Then Joe Knaggs built the one he wanted to play.

Kramer

Baretta

1983

One humbucker, a bolt-on neck, a banana headstock. Kramer’s 1983 superstrat kept the loud part.

Lakland

55-94

1996

A five-string for bass players who never wanted one: an extra inch of scale, and a neck that feels like home.

Larrivée

OM-03

1997

A shop that started in a basement made an all-solid guitar a working player could actually afford.

Line 6

Variax

2002

One knob, and a plain solidbody is a 12-string, a sitar, or a banjo. It was built to be the rest of the gig bag.

Lowden

O-25

1977

George Lowden refused to copy an American guitar. Twenty years on, David Gray bought one and made White Ladder.

Magnatone

Mark V

1957

Paul Bigsby designed it, with his own vibrato on the tail. Everybody went home with the amp instead.

Manson

MB-1

2009

Hugh Manson wouldn’t build you a Strat. He built Matt Bellamy this instead, and eventually let you have one.

Martin

0-18

1898

Martin keeps dropping the little 0-18 from the catalog. The people who own one never put it down.

Martin

00-18

1898

Not the big dreadnought. The small mahogany Martin you can carry into a field and write a song on.

Martin

5-18

1898

Martin sold it as a guitar for children. Marty Robbins took it onstage.

Martin

OM-28

1929

In 1929 one player asked Martin for a longer neck. The answer was a new guitar, and it lasted about four years.

Martin

D-18

1931

Elvis traded his D-18 up for a leather-covered D-28. The plain one had already been there for the Sun records.

Martin

D-28

1931

You’ve heard a D-28 your whole life. It just never asked for the credit.

Martin

D-45

1933

Pearl takes time. When the war took Martin’s time away, the D-45 stopped, and it waited 26 years to come back.

Martin

000-18

1934

Julian Lage’s 1939 000-18 had been in pieces. It showed up when his own left hand needed putting back together.

Martin

000-28

1934

Eric Clapton met the 000-28 in pictures of Big Bill Broonzy. Now people meet it in pictures of Clapton.

Martin

D-35

1965

Martin split the back in three to save rosewood. The bass it made was just what Johnny Cash’s voice needed.

Martin

HD-28

1976

For almost thirty years, a herringbone Martin meant finding an old one. In 1976 Martin added a letter.

Maton

EBG808

1988

It started as the measurements off a smashed Martin, for the quiet players in a Melbourne folk club.

Mayones

Regius

1998

The copies sold in Poland. The guitar Mayones drew for itself had to go to Frankfurt, every year.

Micro-Frets

Spacetone

1969

A Maryland guitar you intonate at the nut, with a bar that dips whole chords in tune. Some even broadcast FM.

Mike Lull

M4V

1995

Mike Lull didn’t want to reinvent Leo Fender’s wheel. He just made it about a fifth smaller.

Modulus

Quantum

1978

An aerospace engineer looked at Phil Lesh’s bass and decided the problem was the wood.

Mosrite

Ventures

1963

Semie Moseley offered Nokie Edwards the guitar free. He paid $200, and the Ventures dropped their Jazzmasters.

MTD

Kingston

2001

He sold his own name to Gibson. The Kingston is how you get his neck without waiting on his bench.

Music Man

StingRay

1976

Leo Fender wanted a wide, bright bass. Louis Johnson hit it with his thumb, and funk had its sound.

Music Man

Silhouette

1986

People laughed at Music Man’s first guitar. Then Keith Richards picked one up.

Music Man

Axis

1991

They copied the neck off Eddie Van Halen’s worn-out Kramer. Then Eddie left, and the guitar stayed.

Music Man

JP6

2001

Shaped to fit one shredder’s forearm, it became the secret weapon of a pop band’s guitarist.

Music Man

Bongo

2003

Sterling Ball asked BMW’s design studio for a bass. People thought he’d lost his mind. It’s still in production.

Music Man

Reflex

2010

Music Man built an anniversary guitar for one year. The Reflex was the plain one that let it stay.

Music Man

Cutlass

2016

Leo Fender drew up the Cutlass in the ’70s. It took about forty years to make it onto a wall.

National

Style O

1930

A nickel-plated brass guitar from 1930s Los Angeles, and the one Mark Knopfler wouldn’t sell.