I wonder what guys like Hendrix, Allman, Santana, etc, you know, the '60's rockers, thought about when they went to buy an axe.

Did they ever GAS over Chuck Berry's guitar, or want the same guitar model as the Big Bopper's guitarist?

Did they just get what they liked/could afford? Or did they look for specific specs? Did they make all this great music (back in the day) on standard models without wondering about the details of it?

Was it a simpler time and place and mindset back then? Have things gotten too complicated now?

There's actually quite a lot of material out there on just that question.

A lot Sixties players used Strats because of Buddy Holly. Jimmy Page used a Tele in the beginning because it's what James Burton used. I'm pretty sure that's why Clapton used a Tele in the Yardbirds, too (but that might have been because of Muddy Waters).

Of course every one of them landed on their later guitar of choice for personal reasons. Santana said he liked the SG, Butterfly Artist Ibanez, and later the PRS because he liked the sustain and he could get a thick sound out of the neck pick up. He said single coils "Hurt His Teeth".

Jimi used Strats because they could take the abuse and they were the only guitar with a stable enough tremolo to do what he did.

And I'm pretty sure the Beatles bought their Casinos in a Chuck Berry induced GAS attack after seeing him on an ES-335 (or similar ES semi hollow body).

If you ever see The Strat Pack DVD, get it. Hank Marvin recalls a wonderful story about GASsing over the New Stratocaster.

Oh yeah, they had heroes, and they imitated them.

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"Persistence Is The Father Of Invention"
-Crazy Old Man In Training