Five iconic rock star guitars that were actually copies of famous models
The big two guitar brands – Fender and Gibson – have between them been responsible for creating the instruments that powered countless moments of rock ‘n’ roll legend. But not all. In the decades since the so-called Golden Era of guitar-making, luthiers big and small have ended up using these iconic guitar designs as inspiration for their own instruments – often with minor tweaks or variations to suit the tastes or intent on the builder.
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Occasionally, these ‘inspired by’ instruments have found their way into the hands of musicians who would use them to create their own bit of rock ‘n’ roll history. Such has been the faithfulness of these tributes, however, often people watching on would be none the wiser that the guitars they were looking at weren’t Fenders, Gibsons or anything of the sort – but copies made by little-known makers. Here are five guitars that often get mistaken for the real deal by fans.
Slash performing with a Les Paul during the Appetite For Destruction Tour in Michigan, 1988. Image: Ross Marino/Getty Images
Slash’s Appetite For Destruction Les Paul
The guitar famously used on Guns & Roses’ Appetite For Destruction was long thought to be a Gibson Les Paul by many fans, after all, it did say “Gibson” on the headstock. But in fact it was a replica of a ’59 Burst made by a luthier named Kris Derrig. The AFD guitar features a jaw-dropping flame top that was rarely seen, even in the Gibsons of that day. Derrig’s guitars were not exact replicas, though; Slash’s was fitted with Seymour Duncan Alnico II Zebra pickups and had a thinner neck than Gibsons of that era.
Derrig’s son, Dale, estimates that his dad made “about 20, maybe more” of these Les Paul replicas. Slash later tracked one down and now owns two of them. Many of the replicas were most likely passed off as real Gibsons (again, they did feature the “Gibson” logo on the headstock!) and lost to the world. Lenny Kravitz and Charlie Daniels are both said to own one.
Like many big brands, Gibson has a major distaste for forgeries and replicas – so it’s ironic that one of the brand’s most popular signature guitars – the Slash Les Paul in its various Gibson and Epiphone versions – is actually modelled on a replica. Tragically, Kris Derrig passed away due to throat cancer in 1987, a few months prior to the release of Appetite For Destruction, and never got to see his creation become one of the most iconic and revered guitars in rock history.
Frank Zappa performing with his “Baby Snakes” SG in 1975. Image: Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Frank Zappa’s “Baby Snakes” SG
Frank Zappa was a unique artist and often used unique tools to create his art. Zappa bought an SG, with a Gibson logo on the headstock from photographer/luthier Bart Nagel backstage in Phoenix in 1974, for $600. Nagel built the guitar himself, and upon purchasing the instrument, Zappa gave the guitar the nickname “Baby Snakes”. The guitar does have some deviations from a standard Gibson SG. The neck has 23 frets rather than the standard 22. The additional fret required that the neck pickup be pushed back towards the bridge.
After Zappa bought the guitar, he took it to his go-to luthier Rex Bogue, who installed a bunch of onboard effects such as a boost circuit, an out-of-phase control switch, split-coils, and an EQ boost. At one point, the guitar is believed to have included an onboard Dan Armstrong Green Ringer ring modulator onboard.
Eddie Van Halen performing with his Frankenstrat during the Hide Your Sheep Tour in Detroit, 1982. Image: Ross Marino/Getty Images
Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstrat
The Stratocaster is the best-selling guitar in history, and I think it’s safe to assume it’s also the most copied model in history. Fender guitars were easy to modify and swap out parts, as Leo Fender had intended. Eddie Van Halen and his Frankenstrat are famous enough that most of you know this was not a Fender Stratocaster but rather a parts caster of sorts, built by the man himself. I am including it on the list because the body and neck shapes are copies (albeit licensed copies) of a Fender Stratocaster – the body is from Boogie Bodies, and the neck was changed many times over the years, but only in its earliest configuration was it a Fender Stratocaster neck. Subsequent Fender-style necks were made by Lynn Ellsworth – the same person who made the body under the name Boogie Bodies. Originally, the bridge was a Fender style but was later swapped out for a Mighty Mite and then a Floyd Rose. The famous PAF pickup was obviously not a Fender creation but was taken from a vintage Gibson.
Billie Joe Armstrong performing with his “Blue” Strat in California, 1994. Image: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
Billie Joe Armstrong’s “Blue” Strat
One of the most recognisable guitars in punk rock is Green Day main man Billie Joe Armstrong’s sticker-emblazoned Strat that was an ever-present part of the band’s early records and remains a regular live stalwart to this day. Except of course, it’s not actually a Fender Stratocaster, it is in fact an S-type guitar created by Japanese brand Fernandes at an indeterminate time, most likely the late 70s.
Blue was originally bought for Billie Joe by his mother from George Cole, who was Billie’s guitar instructor in his formative years. Allegedly, George got the guitar from David Margen, who was a bass player in Santana’s band from 1977 until 1982 – regardless, the guitar had been through several pairs of hands before he got it when he was 11 years old.
Apparently the guitar had three single-coil pickups, but apparently Cole threw in a Bill Lawrence ‘rail’ humbucker. It appears Billie Joe installed the humbucker himself, and disconnected the two other pickups – and it was that way until Woodstock ’94 when it got covered in mud and was replaced by a Seymour Duncan SH-4.
Another interesting thing about this guitar is the wood its made out of – silver heart. This is a wood that was primarily used to make bowling alley lanes, but when the bowling boom collapsed in the 70s in Japan and lanes closed in their droves, Fernandes’ parent company Saito Musical Instruments bought a lot of this wood. They would then sandwich the strips together to create a very heavy but surprisingly good sounding guitar body. Either way, absolutely nothing about this guitar is ‘Fender’.
Tony Iommi performing with his “Old Boy” SG with Heaven & Hell in Brighton, 2007. Image: Dave Etheridge-Barnes/Getty Images
Tony Iommi’s “Old Boy” SG
Tony Iommi has used several SG guitars over the years, but perhaps none as iconic as his heavily relic’d SG known as “Old Boy”. Old Boy was built by an English luthier named John Diggins, who worked at a shop owned by John Birch. Birch had already built two custom SGs for Iommi that had the modified specs of 24 frets, giving the guitar two full octaves. The second guitar was painted black and featured cross inlays and a stainless steel pickguard. John Diggins was tasked with making a backup to the black SG for the 1975 Tour.
He built it at home in his kitchen in his spare time after working all day at Birch’s shop, and did the whole thing in only two days. He was understandably in a rush to get it done before the US tour and claimed that the guitar’s distressed look resulted from the finish not having enough time to cure.
Iommi has also stated that it was left in a car in Brazil on a very hot day, and the finish bubbled up, resulting in the heavily distressed finish we see today. Old Boy was used on overdubs for Heaven and Hell and was the main weapon of choice on every album after that. It is the guitar most closely associated with Iommi today.
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