The Most Iconic Guitars That Have Visited Lubbock

I'm going to say straight up that I can not 100 percent document these appearances. I'm saying that due to the musician's preferences and the time period(s) in which they visited the Hub City, you can be 99.9 percent certain you saw an iconic guitar.

Dimebag's, uh...everything. He played his lightning bolt and he played his stars and bars in Lubbock. The first is absolutely, positively one of the most iconic guitars to appear in the Hub City.

Eddie Van Halen's Frankenstrat. The iconic black and white on red guitar went everywhere with Eddie in the early days and he certainly played Lubbock during that time. It's possible that he actually played Frankenstrat II, also known as "Bumblebee," which is the guitar pictured on Van Halen II (and was eventually buried with Dimebag).

Johnny Ramone's white Mosrite guitar. Johnny used the white Mosrite as his main stage guitar from  1977 to 1996. He no doubt had nothing else with him when he played "The Rox" on 4th street.

Rick Nielsen's Rick Nielsen guitar. Nielsen had a ton of memorable guitars, but I can 100 percent confirm that he played and/or wore the guitar that was built to look like him. I saw it with my own eyes when the band played New West.

Gene Simmon's Axe Bass. The problem with Simmons is that there is little to no guarantee which axe bass he played in Lubbock, but I can 100 percent confirm that he played one of his axe basses at the United Supermarkets Arena back in 2020 (pre-pandemic).

There are a couple more that I'd like to add to the list, but I'm less sure of. I have no recollection at all of what Randy Rhodes played when he visited Lubbock (I could swear it wasn't his iconic polka dot Flying V). Ted Nugent's big "Byrdland" guitar should be considered, and I guess we should put Willie Nelson's acoustic in there.

The thing to keep in mind is that all of these guitars will end up in a museum somewhere and chances are near certain, you saw them get a workout in Lubbock.  Also, item. If you notice something just a bit off with the pictures, it's because they're all mini-guitar replicas that you can purchase on Amazon.

20 Striking Photos From Across Texas During Winter Storm Uri