Why Are These Famous Rock Stars Playing Cheap, Junk Shop Guitars?

Jimmy Page

[Photo: Getty Images]

Jack White

[Photo: Getty Images]

David Auerbach

Artist: Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys)

Guitar Model: Harmony Stratotone

Average Cost At Time Of Purchase: $400

Kurt Cobain

[Photo: Tupelo Records]

Josh Homme

[Photo: Getty Images]

Annie Clark

[Photo: Getty Images]

Beck

[Photo: Getty Images]

David Bowie

[Photo: Getty Images]

Joan Jett

[Photo: Getty Images]

Jonny Greenwood

[Photo: Getty Images]

No less an authority than Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain once said "I use whatever I can find at junk shops - junk is always best.” Junk shops, thrift stores and garage sales have always been alluring to guitarists in their quest for vintage scores. However, far more often what they’d find there were the cheap, funky – though frequently well-made and good sounding - beginner guitars one could order from a Sears and Roebuck mail order catalog. And for every axe-slinger that found fortune playing the famed stock in trade Stratocasters and Les Pauls, there have always been those that made it a point of pride to wrangle ferocious sounds from far rarer rock n’ roll beasts. Even Led Zeppelin guitar wizard Jimmy Page was known to utilize a distinctly budget-friendly Danelectro from time to time. Following Jack White’s popularization of the Montgomery Ward Airline in The White Stripes, cheap guitars caught on big, from punkers raging on entry level Gibsons to indie rockers strumming ‘60s Silvertones. This has sent prices up which means that, ironically, most of these “cheap” guitars aren’t so cheap anymore. But they still look cool so take a gander at 10 world famous guitarists that weren’t afraid to rock a junk shop guitar.