The 28 Most Recognizable Guitars

We salute rock & roll's most iconic tool of the trade since stuffed spandex — the multinecked, fur-lined, flame-throwing masterpieces that remain as influential as the shredders who strapped them on.

20. Artist: Zakk Wylde, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society
Instrument: The Grail
Description: This signature Gibson Les Paul features a yellow-jacket-striped bull's-eye paint job and enough power to accessorize a braided Viking beard.
Factoid: Ozzy Osbourne, searching for a replacement for guitarist Randy Rhoads, who died in an airplane accident in 1982, managed to lure Zakk away from his day job — at a gas station. In New Jersey.
Shining Moment: In 2007, Wylde paid tribute to his forebears by performing “I Don’t Wanna Stop,” “Bark at the Moon,” “Night Train” and other classics as Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist on VH1 Rock Honors.

19. Artist: Jerry Only, The Misfits
Instrument: The Devastator
Description: A graphite bass made by Bernie Rico Jr., with a black M-shaped body and a Cyclops skull attached to the headstock, this four-stringed terror is the musical equivalent of a Stephen King novel. There are no control knobs, since Only plays with all of his settings cranked to the loudest possible levels at all times.
Factoid: Equipped with his Devastator bass and his signature “devilock” hairdo, Only is the sole Misfit to record on every album of the band’s career.
Shining Moment: 1981.

18. Artist: Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day
Instrument: Blue
Description: A Fernandes Fender Stratocaster copy with a humbucker pickup in the bridge position and Duncan JB neck pickups, Armstrong covered the entire body with various band stickers.
Factoid: Armstrong’s mother surprised him by buying Blue from his first guitar teacher when he was 11. Being from a lower-middle class family, Armstrong was shocked, and the gesture inspired him to write the material that later became Green Day’s early recordings.
Shining Moment: Best known from the “Longview” and “Minority” videos, Blue has also been a live staple at Green Day shows ever since.

17. Artist: Bootsy Collins
Instrument: Space Bass
Description: After contributing some of the heaviest bass lines known to man during James Brown's mid-'60s golden era, Bootsy connected with psychedelic funk guru George Clinton, reemerging as "Bootzilla," a funky alien with an otherworldly star-shaped, rhinestone-encrusted custom bass with a mirrored pick guard and star-shaped knobs.
Factoid: In 2003, Washburn released a very limited edition run of Space basses, made exactly to Bootsy's original specs, giving bassists no more excuses as to why they're not funky.
Shining Moment: Mid-'70s P-Funk classics that a generation of hip-hop producers plundered in order to balance out their plundering of Bootsy-era James Brown classics.

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