Thread by @johnpelwood

I'm in Arnold & Porter's NY office for meetings. Any suggestion I timed my visit to coincide w/the Met's exhibit of famous rock instruments is deeply offensive & I reject it.

But the exhibit was open, so I went. It's amazing. 1st up: Clapton's "The Fool" Gibson SG, used w/Cream

Keeping w/ Clapton, next up is "Blackie," Clapton's fave guitar during early solo career--assembled from his favorite pieces of 3 guitars. Used to record "Cocaine," "I Shot The Sheriff," "Wonderful Tonight," & "Lay Down Sally." Sold at auction for $850,000 in 2004.

Next up in the guitar god parade: Eddie Van Halen's "Frankenstein" parts guitar, assembled and painted by the man himself. Maybe the most iconic guitar of the 80s.

If this bores you, you'd better mute me for the next 24 hours or so. I took 330 photos in about two hours.

Jimi Hendrix's hand-painted Gibson Flying V. Just hanging there like it's not Hendrix's Flying V or something.

Jimmy Page's "Number 1," bought from Joe Walsh. Pagey loaned a lot to the exhibit. Also pictured is his hand-painted "Dragon" Telecaster and Supro amp (both used for LZ's 1st album & "Stairway to Heaven" solo). And his theremin (used for Whole Lotta Love & No Quarter).

Page's backline of Marshall amps, another theremin, his original Tone Bender fuzz pedal, and Danelectro guitar used for slide work.

In my 8th grade graduation booklet (1981), I listed Keith Richards as the person I admired most--probably because of his skill in not dying.

The exhibit had the Gibson Les Paul Standard Keef played in the Stones' early days. Mick Taylor (later a bandmate) bought it from him.

And they had the Gibson Les Paul Custom Keef played in recording "Beggar's Banquet," beginning a run of classic Stones albums.

Beginning in the early/mid 70s, Keith began favoring Fender Telecasters, which are still his main instrument.

The exhibit at one point had Keith's favorite Tele, nicknamed "Micawber" after the character in David Copperfield. But I'm afraid it was otherwise occupied today.

More later. I have to do some actual billable work now.

Another installment! Visitors to the exhibit are greeted with Chuck Berry's 1957 Gibson ES-350; a likely candidate for the guitar Johnny B. Goode was recorded on.

Muddy Waters' heavily modified Fender Telecaster.

The Fender Esquire that Jeff Beck played with the Yardbirds.

This guy put his initials on his guitar in case you forgot who it belonged to.

One of Joe Strummer's Fender Telecasters (he went through several). It picked up another sticker after the photo on the right.

Bruce Springsteen's famous 1957 (?) Fender Esquire; it's been modified quite a bit over the years.

Ron Wood was probably a runner-up to Keef for most-admired in 1981, so I was crestfallen this Zemaitis from his early years with the Rolling Stones didn't get more prominence.

Joan Jett's touring Gibson Melody Maker. Lotta miles on that thing.

They had Les Paul Deluxes from the Who's 1970s touring, when Pete frequently labeled guitars with large vinyl numbers to indicate different tunings & the like. Almost every one had been smashed, Most had been reassembled; one still-smashed one was in lucite. PLUS: Moon's drums!

When people talk about when Bob Dylan "went electric" at the 1965 Newport folk festival, he did it on this guitar.

They had the full rig of Tom Morello of Rage Against the Marchine (and much else). The amp's faceplace bears black Sharpie marks where he marked the knob settings that Tom deemed "good enough" so he could focus on music and stop tinkering with gear. Good lesson there.

Eddie Van Halen's early rig. In the shadows are two modified Marshall amplifier heads and the "Variacs" Eddie used to alter the voltage they run on. Nothing was ever stock with Van Halen.

Time for another break, but let me leave you with one of the early displays that stopped me in my tracks. That's George Harrison's 1st guitar in the foreground; John Lennon's custom Rickenbacker 12-string in the background. I'm guessing you know what that is in between.

It's not *that* Hofner bass (they didn't have the "Beatle bass, but they did have another McCartney Hofner with a union jack top). But they did have the Hofner bass of a true original, Tina Weymouth.

I deemed it too obscure for a 331st picture, but the instrument above the Weymouth Hofner is the Ovation of Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon.

And right next door is the Modulus bass of that sultan of slap, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

One of the legendary basses, John Entwistle's Alembic "Spider" bass, referenced (with inaccurate headstock shape) on "The Who By Numbers." In what I imagine was a joke, Entwistle had all the note names inlaid on the fretboard.

And speaking of John Entwistle, you know that little bass break in "My Generation"? Played on this Fender Jazz bass.

( few years later, Fender would move back pickup closer to the bridge & use ash for the body, making it even punchier: think Larry Graham (funk) & Rush.

MISCELLANY: If you're wondering why Spinal Tap had the hilarious electric sitar solo in "Flower People," it all leads back to this instrument: Ravi Shankar's sitar. Just because George Harrison can work it into songs doesn't mean you can too.

Kate Pierson (B-52s) Farfisa organ. This very instrument was used on "Planet Claire," "Rock Lobster" and, to listen to it, much of the band's first 2 albums. As the museum's card aptly put it, "The organ's bright & warbly tone contributed to the band's eccentric flair."

Something for the metalheads: Lars Ulrich's drums and James Hetfield's diamond-plate guitar.

They had rare concert posters, including for the Stones' ill-fated Altamont show, and the only known concert poster of the proto-Beatles band the Quarrymen.

Clarence Clemons' Selmer Mark VI saxophone, used on Springsteen's "Jungleland," "Thunder Road," and a great deal more.

Because I think it's important the one & only Elwood tweetstorm end with a whimper rather than a bang, here's a close-up of the lettering an early rocker applied by hand to his guitar, anticipating the plural form of his own name for when people impersonated him en masse. /FIN