25 Iconic Guitar Body Shapes

Much like my recent ’Ergonomic’ Headstock feature - this was another labour of love really - and essentially the second half to that exercise.

The remit is slightly different here - where this curated selection is a mix of universally held iconic classic guitar body shapes, sprinkled with a few of my own idiosyncratic favourites. I don’t expect your own selection to be entirely the same - while surely there should be a 80-90% overlap or thereabouts.

This exercise has been done by many before - but typically more in silhouette fashion. While I wanted to include some iconic artist-related editions here - not always the most obvious, but each eminently worthy - you can hazard a guess first as to who those guitars are signature instruments for - before cheating and looking at the list below.

I wanted to have as broad a mix as possible and include some representatives of the Metal family of guitars - and I could not think of a better pointy-style SuperStrat candidate than Steve Vai’s Signature JEM Evo. Supposedly the second best selling ’Signature’ guitar of all time - after the Les Paul! The earliest guitar referenced here is from 1951 (Telecaster), while the most modern is the Ibanez ’X’ from 2021 - a span of 70  years!

I believe I’ve included all the obvious shapes here - do let me know which ones you would swap out - and for which models.

There may be some controversy over some shapes / preferred shapes - for instance you could argue that the PRS Santana is very similar to the Les Paul Junior Precursor - while there are some deft touches that Paul has made to improve on that templat as far as I’m concerned. I also felt that it was enough for Gibson to have 6 candidates here!

I hope you enjoy this selection in any case!

Here follows the Overview Reference for each Model pictured:

OVERVIEW :

• Fender Telecaster - since 1951 - George Harrison Rosewood Edition pictured
• Fender Stratocaster - since 1954 - Nile Rodgers ’Hitmaker’ Edition pictured
• Fender Jaguar - since 1962 - Johnny Marr Edition pictured (very similar to Jazzmaster!)
• Fender Mustang - since 1964 - Kurt Cobain Daphne Blue Edition pictured
• Gibson Les Paul - since 1952 - Peter Frampton ’Phenix’ Edition pictured
• Gibson ES-335 - since 1958 - BB King ’Lucille’ Edition pictured
• Gibson SG - since 1961 - Angus Young Edition pictured
• Gibson Explorer - since 1958 - The Edge Natural Edition pictured
• Gibson Flying V - since 1958 - Marc Bolan Edition pictured
• Gibson Firebird - since 1963 - Tom Petty Edition pictured
• Ibanez JEM Evo - since 1987 - Original Steve Vai Signature Edition pictured
• Ibanez Destroyer (Modded) - since 1975 - Eddie Van Halen Carved-up and Modded Edition pictured (Original an Explorer Clone!)
• Ibanez Iceman - since 1975 - Paul Stanley Cracked Mirror Edition pictured
• Ibanez ’X’ Xiphos - since 2021 - XPTB620 Edition pictured
• Ibanez Artist AR Standard - since 1974 - AR420 Edition pictured
• Music Man Axis - since 1991 - Eddie Van Halen Edition pictured
• Music Man Albert Lee - since 1993 - Daphne Blue Edition pictured
• Music Man Majesty - since 1991 - 20th Anniversary Edition pictured - John Petrucci Signature
• Music Man St Vincent - since 2016 - Ltd Neon Orange Edition pictured
• BC Rich Warlock - since 1981 - Stranger Things ’Eddie’s’ Relic Crackle Edition pictured
• BC Rich Mockingbird - since 1976 - Extreme Exotic SM Edition pictured
• PRS Custom 24 - since 1985 - Private Stock Bahamian Blue Quilt Edition pictured
• PRS Santana - since 1988 - Classic Santana Yellow Edition pictured
• Millimetric MGS3 - since 2015 - Copper Edition with Gold Foil Pickups pictured
• Rickenbacker 330 - since 1958 - 330/6 Fireglo Edition pictured