Artists And Their Signature Instruments

Subject: RE: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 09:16 AM

McCartney's bass was a Hofner.

Subject: RE: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: gillymor
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 07:50 AM

The late, great J.J. Cale and his Fifty Dollar Guitar

Subject: RE: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 07:23 AM

Louis Armstrong's Selmer. It's in the Smithsonian now.

Bo Diddley's Gretsch.

Jamaican William Walker (Sugarbelly) and his homemade bamboo sax.

Subject: RE: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: GUEST,Mark Bluemel
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 05:38 AM

Richard Thompson seems to have an ongoing search for his signature electric guitar, but plays his Lowden almost exclusively for acoustic.

Subject: RE: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 04:17 AM

Willie Nelson and that "holy" guitar.

I like to think I've given a new dimension to the kazoo but others might differ!
RtS

Subject: RE: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 04:10 AM

Brian May and his home-made red guitar.

Reginald Dixon and the Blackpool organ.

Liberace and his candelabrum.

Subject: RE: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: The Sandman
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 03:38 AM

Martin Carthy and his Martin

Subject: RE: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: Hagman
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 02:56 AM

Paul McCartney's Rickenbacker Bass

Jim (Roger) McGuinn's Rickenbacker 12-string

Lonnie Mack (and Albert King) - Gibson Flying V

Robert Johnson's acoustic was pretty special - a Gibson, I believe.

Subject: RE: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 02:07 AM

Maybelle Carters Gibson guitar ?

Dave H

Subject: RE: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: The Sandman
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 01:43 AM

Pavarotti and his voice

Subject: RE: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: Hagman
Date: 23 Jul 17 - 09:27 PM

B.B. King and "Lucille" come to mind....

Subject: RE: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: gillymor
Date: 23 Jul 17 - 07:49 PM

Tony Rice and his 1935 Martin D-28 guitar that previously belonged to Clarence White, one of Tony's main inspirations.
Story at Fretboard Journal
It ranks up there with Bill Monroe's Gibson F-5 Lloyd Loar mandolin as one of the most famous instruments in Bluegrass history.

Norman Blake played a 1934 Martin D-18 12 fret for a long time that was stupendous. I think he's playing smaller instruments these days.

Subject: RE: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Jul 17 - 07:32 PM

If I could expand just a bit beyond the Folk World, B.B. King named his guitar "Lucille" - there were several guitars that held that name.

Les Paul is another performer whose guitar was well known - but a "Les Paul guitar" can be on of a number of varieties.

Here's Pete Seeger's Banjo (click)

And Woody Guthrie's guitar (click)

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: Jack Campin
Date: 23 Jul 17 - 07:20 PM

Cathal McConnell carries around a briefcaseful of battered and fungoid flutes and whistles, but most of his fluteplaying is on one instrument, a right-handed 8-key wooden flute which he plays lefthanded with most of the keys disabled by insulating tape and rubber bands. Hardly anybody else can get a sound out of it. There is a story that he was once due to play it in an outdoor gig in a hot country so it needed oiling, and there wasn't any bore oil around, so he used the oil from a tin of sardines. If it ever came into my possession I'd handle it with tongs and give it to a museum.

I think Peerie Willie Johnson had the same guitar for most of his life, which he carried around Lerwick in a bin bag.

At any moment there will be several "Rolf Harris" Stylophones for sale on EBay. But for some reason I've never seen a wobble board for sale - they were a more imaginative invention.

Subject: Artists And Their Signature Instruments
From: GUEST,Great Big Voice
Date: 23 Jul 17 - 07:02 PM

I think of Pete Seeger and his long-neck banjo and down-tuned 12-string guitar.

Many others, like Dylan and Guthrie, are often represented in iconic images with certain instruments (the 'Fascists' guitar, of which I know there were several), but never stuck with one style, let alone one particular tool.

Are there others in the folk world that are identified with a particular make/model of instrument, or, like Seeger, identified with specific individual instruments throughout their careers?