The factors that determine the price of musical instruments vary but what make the price tags hit the roof are usually rarity, creator (such as being made by a distinguished luthier or being customized by a respected musician), celebrity owners (a guitar owned by Clapton will always be more valuable than the guitar of an average Joe); and auctions where the highest bidder wins. Many artists like to donate their instruments to charity auctions as they money raised can be donated to a good cause.

Musicians, especially rock guitarists, have been known for being in love with their instruments. It is not unusual to see a garage covered with more guitar models than you can count. You might want to check the episode of MTV Cribs where we are taken to Poison singer/song writer/ guitar player Bret Michaels’ house to see an example. So this article is basically a tribute to a favorite guitar brand by many musicians, their favorite models and the players.

Here’s a collection of custom, odd-shaped, weird looking guitars. Tell me what inspires you: do you like boating, skating, or playing your old Sega Genesis. Here is an assortment of guitars for every personality type and taste. These guitars range from a 42-string Picasso guitar to one for supporters of the UAW (buy one and help your GM dealer). The creativity of these custom guitars is just amazing. Take a look.

The number of musical instruments available on the iPhone has increased dramatically since Apple released their SDK for developers (watch this blog for a iphone instrument roundup soon!). Before this, most virtual instruments could only be run on a Jailbroken iPhone.
The complexity of some of these new instruments (like the amazing soon-to-be released iphone synth ) is getting astounding, but a Japanese band called Denki Groove has used some fairly simple apps on jailbroken phones & ipods to do a fantastic version of the song “Smoky Bubbles”.

In March of 1967, Jimi Hendrix went up on stage at London’s Finsbury Astoria and gave an electrifying performace - it built up to a frenzied dramatic ending, when he doused his guitar in lighter fluid & burned it.
Hendrix had to be rushed to hospital with minor burns to his hands after the stunt, and the guitar, slightly damaged along the neck and pickboard, was recovered by his staff.