COVER STORY
the top players from each year. He basically set us up to be pummeled by hordes of readers angered that their personal hero didn’t get selected. (Thanks, Lyle!) But we thought about his idea, and we
1 9 8 3 Brian May
1 9 8 4 Mark Knopfler
1 9 9 0 Allan Holdsworth
1 9 9 1 Slash
1 9 9 7 Scotty Moore
1 9 9 8 Brian Setzer
determined it was a fun way to showcase some “vintage” GP covers, as well as celebrate a timeline of wonderful guitarists throughout the years. Here’s how we made the year-by-year
1 9 8 5 StevieRayVaughan
1 9 9 2 John Lee Hooker
1 9 9 9 Carlos Santana
selections: [1] The artist had to personify that year’s guitar culture (by popularity, game-changing technique, and/or guitarcommunity stature) or harken back to an Continues on page 46
1 9 8 6 Eric Johnson
1 9 8 7 George Harrison
1 9 8 8 Vernon Reid
1 9 8 9 Danny Gatton
1 9 9 3 Albert Collins
1 9 9 4 Muddy Waters
1 9 9 5 Steve Vai
1 9 9 6 Joe Satriani
2 0 0 0 Prince
2 0 0 1 The Edge
2 0 0 2 Alex Lifeson
2 0 0 3 Jack White
Roland RE-201 MXR Distor-
Pignose amp goes
tion+ pedal
into production
Space Echo
1973
1974 Hamer Guitars Founded by Jol Dantzig and Paul Hamer in 1973, Hamer started out building custom guitars and basses that were based on Gibson designs, but with hybrid elements that made them unique. Their first official model was the “Standard”—basically an Explorer with
Marshall moves to
Gizmotron
Les Paul-style flame-maple top and binding—and it wasn’t long
printed circuit boards
electric-bow-
before pro players were ordering production and custom models
ing device
with all sorts of features that weren’t available anywhere else. In a nutshell, Hamer kickstarted the “boutique” guitar market.
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