Nine By Design 33

I can't believe I've done a list 33 weeks in a row.  I started this little segment a little less than a month after finding out my wife was pregnant, so if you do some math...you can figure out we are pretty close to delivery day.  My most popular Nine By Design goes all the way back to week 4, when I did guitarists.  So, trying to equal that popularity, today I'll be doing famous guitars.  Lets see if it comes close in popularity.  On with the show.

Famous Guitars:

Tom Morello - Arm The Homeless:  Morello's main guitar since the early 90's.  Like a lot of guitarists, he has customized his weapon to personal specifications.  I'm not a "tech" guy, so me starting to talk about pickups and "whammy bars" would be ridiculous.  I understand it all to a point, but just not enough to talk intelligently, so I won't even try.  It's a pretty blue, with some hippo pictures painted on it.

Chet Atkins - Gretsch Country Gentleman:  Atkins has many Gretsch's associated with him, but the Country Gentleman has his name attached to it.  Chet Atkins was one of the early guitar heroes, with Les Paul, Chuck Berry and Duane Eddy.  An amazing player in the country/rockabilly genre, but could play any style.

Buckethead - Custom Signature Gibson Les Paul:  The super prolific, super secret and quite odd (he wears a mask and a KFC bucket on his head) guitar monster's main axe.  A highly modified Les Paul with dual kill switches.  Beware of his nunchuku skills, which he often breaks out, while break dancing.  I'm not kidding

Paul Gilbert - Ibanez Fireman:  Gilbert literally lives a few blocks away from the Ibanez Custom Shop.  Designed this guitar (a reverse Iceman) and said build it.  They did and it has become his main guitar since.  Just a fun guitarist to watch and listen to.  Has been a favorite of mine for a very long time.

Eddie Van Halen - Frankenstrat:  One of the most iconic guitars in rock music.  The average music fan will recognize this guitar.  Another highly customized guitar.  I don't know if I have enough space to talk about everything that EVH did to this guitar.  It's very much like Eddie's style, it's all over the place.  Reflectors, tape, paint, chains, you name it, it's there. 

David Gilmour - Signature Fender Stratocaster:  I'll admit that I'm not the biggest Pink Floyd fan ever.  I like them, but would rather listen to many other bands if given the choice.  However, the guitar solo Gilmour plays with this guitar in "Comfortably Numb" is probably the best and most tasteful guitar solo, ever.  I'll give credit where it's due.  He doesn't overplay and the solo rips.

Steve Morse - Signature Music Man:  Sadly, Steve Morse is so underrated as a guitarist, that he's practically unknown...probably not by fellow guitarists, but by the general public.  He's been in Deep Purple for close to 20 years.  Blackmore's shoes are hard to fill, but Morse is more than up to the task.  He has a very unique style, kinda like country fried rock, with some southern metal on the side.  His guitar is equally unique.



  

Rory Gallagher - Worn Fender Strat:  The Irish Guitar God.  The more I hear from him, the more I wish he was still around.  Never really appreciated in his own time.  A very tasteful shredder, has never received the credit he deserves.

Steve Vai - Green Meanie:  The main guitar for Vai in Alcatrazz and on David Lee Roth's first album.  Then he literally ripped the bridge right out of it, while abusing the tremolo.  This is iconic for me, because it's the first guitar I ever saw him use.



So, there you have it.  There's the Nine By Design entry for this week.  Wait a second...I've just been handed a urgent news bulletin.  The researchers here at For Lack Of A Better Title, were not happy with the pick for Steve Vai.  So, to ease the tension and quell a possible coup d'etat...I'm going to add some bonus material.

Steve Vai - Mirrored Ibanez (Bad Horsie guitar): Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, those are LED lights on the fretboard.  The boys at the blog like shiny things.  Leave it to Vai to provide it for them.  This guitar is mainly used for the song "Bad Horsie."  I think this is where Frank Zappa rubbed off on Vai, always making things interesting for his audience.






Now we're done.  Everyone has had a snack of milk and cookies and are getting ready for their late morning nap.  They work "really" hard around here.  Cheers, Happy Weekend!