Saul Hudson, better known as Slash, is British-American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Slash has received critical acclaim and is considered one of the greatest guitarists in history.
Zachary Phillip Wylde is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and as the founder, lead guitarist, and lead singer of the heavy metal band Black Label Society. His signature bulls-eye design appears on many of his guitars and is widely recognized. He was also the lead guitarist and vocalist of Pride & Glory, who released one self-titled album in 1994 before disbanding. As a solo artist, he released the albums Book of Shadows and Book of Shadows II.
Takahiro "Tak" Matsumoto is a Grammy Award-winning Japanese guitarist, producer, arranger, composer, singer and songwriter. In addition to being the guitarist and lead composer for the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan, he has also had a successful solo career. He is only the fifth guitarist in the world to have his own Gibson signature model guitar. The instrumental album Take Your Pick (2010) made in collaboration with Larry Carlton won an award for the Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards.
The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typical design features a solid mahogany body with a carved maple top and a single cutaway, a mahogany set-in neck with a rosewood fretboard, two pickups with independent volume and tone controls, and a stoptail bridge, although variants exist.
ESP Company, Limited is a Japanese guitar manufacturer, primarily focused on the production of electric guitars and basses. They are based in both Tokyo and Los Angeles, with distinct product lines for each market. ESP Company manufactures instruments under several names, including "ESP Standard", "ESP Custom Shop", "LTD Guitars and Basses", "Navigator", "Edwards Guitars and Basses", and "Grassroots". Their products range from Japanese-built custom-shop-instruments to lower-end mass-production Korean-, Indonesian-, and Chinese-made instruments.
Dean Guitars, commonly referred to simply as Dean, is an American importer and maker of stringed instruments and musical products with its headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
The Gibson Explorer is a type of electric guitar that made its debut in 1958. The Explorer offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its siblings: the Flying V, which was released the same year, and the Moderne, which was designed in 1957 but not released until 1982. The Explorer was the final development of a prototype design that, years later, Gibson marketed under the name Futura.
Leslie West was an American rock guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He was best known as a founding member and co-lead vocalist of the hard rock band Mountain.
The Gibson Les Paul Doublecut is a double-cutaway version of the Gibson Les Paul electric guitar.
The Gibson Les Paul Jr. is a solid-body electric guitar introduced in 1954 as an affordable, entry-level Les Paul. It was first released with a single-cutaway body style; models with a double-cutaway body style were later introduced in 1958. The Jr. continued through the first three years of the Les Paul/SG body redesign. It was discontinued in 1963, and was not re-released until 2001.
The Gibson Melody Maker is an electric guitar made by Gibson Guitar Corporation. It has had many body shape variations since its conception in 1959.
The Gibson ES series of semi-acoustic guitars are manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Corporation.
The Epiphone Les Paul is a solid body guitar line produced by Epiphone as a more modestly priced version of the famous Gibson Les Paul. Epiphone is a subsidiary of Gibson Guitar Corporation and manufactures the Les Paul model and other budget models at a lower cost in Asia.
The Razorback V is an electric guitar designed by Dimebag Darrell in 2004 shortly before his death. It is a more aggressive looking version of the Dean V, and similar to the Dean Razorback. Corey Beaulieu of Trivium is known for using this guitar It is the more pointy version of the Dean Guitar headstock and the body is an enlarged reversed image of the head. There is also a bass guitar version of the Razorback V shape.
The Dean ML is an electric guitar made by Dean Guitars in 1977 along with its counterparts, the Dean V, Dean Cadillac and Dean Z. It has an unusual design, with a V-shaped headstock and V-shaped tailpiece. It was popularised by the guitarist Dimebag Darrell of Pantera.
The Dean Razorback is an electric guitar made by Dean Guitars. It is a variation of the Dean ML, and was designed by Dimebag Darrell, guitarist for the bands Pantera and Damageplan. The Razorback was at first a USA only model, but was subsequently sold as an import model.
David Michael Murray is an English guitarist and songwriter, best known as a member of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden since 1976. He joined Iron Maiden early in its history, and is the second-longest serving member of the band after founder Steve Harris. Murray and Harris are the only members of Iron Maiden to have appeared on all of the band's releases.
Jared James Nichols is an American blues-rock guitarist and singer from East Troy, Wisconsin, best known for his high-energy "pick-less" electric guitar playing technique. He is rarely seen playing without his signature single-pickup Epiphone Les Paul Custom P90 nick-named Old Glory or his vintage original 1953 Gibson Les Paul nick-named Ole Red. He fronts a power trio under his name, rooted in the early 1970s hard-rock vein of Cream and Mountain. He resides in Nashville, Tennessee.
