Guitar wizard and elder statesman of guitar-driven pop music Les Paul twanged his way off this mortal coil today at the age of 94. He led a good life, as far as I know, and certainly enjoyed more than his share of Mad Props from the rock and roll community.
One interesting thing about Lester is that he always understood the impact his *technical* creation had on the world of music — but I’m not sure he really cared about how *cool* it made people look. Like Leo Fender, he was a complete gearhead, and as he aged, he designed increasingly UN-cool guitars that sounded and looked less and less interesting as they became more and more “perfect.”
Anyhow, I thought we might take a moment to honor Lester’s supreme gearhead geekery by acknowledging the fashion statement his guitars and others have made on the stages and screens of rock’s past and present. Feel free to take this half-baked thread in any direction you want, but at least answer the following challenge:
Please rank the following guitars in order of coolness/mach schau factor, with “1” being the coolest, and “10” being the visual/sonic equivalent of a buttered saltine cracker. Note, I’ve added a few examples of famous players for said instruments, for those who are guitar model-challenged):
Gibson Les Paul (Jimmy Page, Slash)
Fender Stratocaster (Hendrix, Dick Dale)
Gretsch Country Gentleman (Chet Atkins, George Harrison)
Gibson SG (Angus Young)
Vox “Teardrop” Phantom (Chesterfield Kings, Brian Jones)
Fender Telecaster (Bruce Springsteen)
Paul Reed Smith (Present-day Santana, countless new rock bands)
Gibson ES-335 (B.B. King, Alvin Lee)
Gibson Flying V (Albert King, J. Geils)
Gibson Firebird (Johnny Winter, Brian Jones, Bob Seger)
I look forward to your responses.
HVB
1. Gibson Les Paul
6. Fender Telecaster
4. Gibson SG
9. Gibson Flying V
2. Fender Stratocaster
8. Gibson ES-335
3. Gretsch Country Gentleman
10. Gibson Firebird
5. Vox “Teardrop” Phantom
7. Paul Reed Smith
5. Gibson Les Paul
1. Fender Telecaster
2. Gibson SG
8. Gibson Flying V
4. Fender Stratocaster
6. Gibson ES-335
7. Gretsch Country Gentleman
3. Gibson Firebird
9. Vox “Teardrop” Phantom
10. Paul Reed Smith
6. Fender Telecaster
4. Gibson SG
3. Gretsch Country Gentleman
1. Gibson Les Paul
8. Gibson ES-335
5. Vox “Teardrop” Phantom
10. Gibson Firebird
2. Fender Stratocaster
7. Paul Reed Smith
9. Gibson Flying V
Fender Telecaster (Bruce Springsteen)
Gibson Les Paul (Jimmy Page, Slash)
Fender Stratocaster (Hendrix, Dick Dale)
Rickenbacker 360 (Byrds, REM)
Gibson Firebird (Johnny Winter, Brian Jones, Bob Seger)
Gibson SG (Angus Young)
Gretsch Country Gentleman (Chet Atkins, George Harrison)
Gibson Flying V (Albert King, J. Geils)
Gibson ES-335 (B.B. King, Alvin Lee)
Vox “Teardrop” Phantom (Chesterfield Kings, Brian Jones)
Paul Reed Smith (Present-day Santana, countless new rock bands)
I ranked these in order of coolness, not mach schau. It’s an important distinction because mach schau could include anything eye-catching like the Ibanez Iceman or that Jack Daniels bass that the Van Halen guy used to play.
I also added the Rickenbacker 360.
It’s almost a toss up for me between the Les Paul and the Tele for THE rock guitar but I have to give the nod to the Tele. It’s about as basic as possible and yet it is perfect for most types of music that I like: rock, punk, old R&B and country. The lead for Stairway to Heaven was recorded on a Tele. ‘Nuff said.
Oops! The lead for Stairway to Heaven was played on a Tele, not “recorded on a Tele”.
I don’t associate the Flying V with J. Geils. It was Dave Davies who popularized it when he was given a prototype version for his appearance in Shindig w/the Kinks when his regular guitar went missing at LAX.
For a long time that Dave davies Flying V was in a guitar store here in DeeCee. The guy wanted $20,000 for it back in the 80s. Funny how that seems like a bargain for it now. At least to me. If I had the money.
No Mustang or Jaguar? Well….
Fender Telecaster
Gibson Les Paul (specifically the Gold Top)
Gibson SG
Gibson ES-335
Fender Stratocaster (unless used with a DI)
Gretsch Country Gentleman
Gibson Firebird
Vox “Teardrop” Phantom
Gibson Flying V
Paul Reed Smith (seriously? Not even a contender)
Les invented the multitrack too, which is incredibly massive!
1) Gibson Les Paul: Shows you are serious about rocking. It’s heavy, both in weight and tone. Good enough for Page, Townshend, Skynyrd. When you see a band sporting a Les Paul, safe to assume they know rock guitar history, and they should be heavy.
2)Rickenbacker 360: If that’s the one used by the Beatles, Townshend, and Paul Weller, that’s my personal favorite. The slash F hole and shape of the body are sexy. Immediately distinctive sound that works for iconclasts. Impossible to be uncool when you play it.
3)Fender Strat: Hendrix, Clapton, The Band. Bluesier than the Les Paul, and probably most versatile with all those pick up settings.
4) Gretsch Country Gentleman: You’re saying you are a serious guitar player. No novices buy a Gretsch to get started. It’s awkwardly thick body is like slow dancing with a fat chick. You have to work a little harder.
5)Gibson SG: Devil horn cut away body. Cool.
6) Gibson ES 335: “ES” Electric-Spanish guitar. Voluptous body like Salma Hayek.
7) Fender Tele: Good guitar, but too common. Seems like the back up guitar for a Strat. If you can’t afford a Strat, or you want a live guitar that you don’t mind abusing, you take the Tele.
The Rest: Teardrop, like a fruity girly drink. You won’t be taken seriously. Flying V is too gimmicky. Firebird, what is that a parallelogram? Too geometric. PRS, nerd guitar.
Cool and unmentioned: Dan Electro.
“Rickenbacker 360: Impossible to be uncool when you play it”
I have one of these circa 1966 and it is hands down the “cooles” guitar I own. It’s also hands down the one that I play the least because it’s so fickle. I’ve considered getting rid of it on a number of occasions because it seems a waste to just have it sitting in a closet. Perhaps the problem is that I am not cool enough to play it.
I used to hate the look of a Firebird too, but now I think they are cool because they are so absurd looking. They’re weird to play though because they’re so top heavy.
I associate the Flying V with Lonnie Mack.
To me the Flying V is first Albert King and then Huskers era Bob Mould, who played it down around his knees. I just read that Mould’s was actually not a Gibson, but an Ibanez knock-off. Really?
I’m afraid I think a guitar’s coolness is determined a lot by who’s playing it. A PRS may not seem cool, but when David Grissom played one with Joe Ely in the 80s it was definitely cool, because that band of Ely’s was sharp as a knife. A Flying V gets lukewarm when a Scorpion plays it. I love my SG and my Tele Deluxe, but are they really cool when it’s just me playing them?
My answers:
Fender Telecaster — as someone pointed out, the “pure”-est of rock guitars
Gibson Firebird — I can’t help it — the Firebird is just so dang goofy, while still possessing serious rock style points. I mean really, when you give a 1962 Detroit auto designer a blank sheet of paper, and he elects to “streamline” a 1959 Explorer by adding banjo tuning pegs and a wacky headstock that looks like it might just take flight, how can you go wrong?
Gibson SG — it has devil horns!
Fender Stratocaster — nicely blobular and futuristic
Gretsch Country Gentleman — making a country instrument rock is always a good thing
Gibson Flying V — come on, man; anything that looks like that has to sound loud and obnoxious (both good rockin’ things)
Gibson Les Paul — sounds better than it looks
Gibson ES-335 — weird and goofy looking in a bad way. Too big. *Almost* “so ugly it’s beautiful,” but not quite.
Vox “Teardrop” Phantom — too gimmicky.
Paul Reed Smith — ugh.
I’m sorry I haven’t responded to this excellent question yet. Here goes:
1. Gibson Firebird – it’s bulkiness and close-but-no-Flying V-ness actually work to its advantage.
2. Gretsch Country Gentleman – classy and well beyond my range, therefore cool
3. Gibson SG – although I find these cooler in concept than anything else, I always think this would be the second electric Gibson I would ever buy, if I could first buy a Firebird
4. Fender Stratocaster – my main guitar since 1980; that’s gotta count for something!
5. Fender Telecaster – my new toy – suddenly much cooler than I once thought these guitars to be
6. Gibson Les Paul – my friend and former bandmate Mike Fingeroff made them as cool as they’ll ever be for me
7. Vox “Teardrop” Phantom – too cool for school
8. Gibson ES-335 – kind of cool, but I think it’s a similar-looking Epiphone that Lennon played in Let it Be, right? I would rank it higher if this Gibson model were indeed the one Lennon plays on Let it Be
9. Gibson Flying V – although a really cool guitar, it’s so not as cool as the Firebird that it falls in my standings in contrast
10. Paul Reed Smith – really…
BB King’s Lucille is an ES-335. It’s what Chuck Berry played too. That’s some powerful mojo. A friend of mine has one, and I love playing it. It plays totally different than a solid body, just the way the sound comes off of it.
Lennon’s guitar was an Epiphone Casino, the same basic shape but with single-coil pick-ups.
Thanks for the clarification, BigSteve. I like Berry’s guitar, but for some reason that one Lennon plays is cooler to me. The fact that it’s Lennon and not Berry helps, in my highly subjective case.
So if Lennon had played a PRS…?
I think you know the answer.