When I interviewed Joe Bonamassa before his show in Nashville last year, he mentioned that Gibson was going to be stopping by later that afternoon to drop off a one-off custom guitar that Joe had them build. He played the guitar later in the show, which he is calling the “Bona-bird,” and it’s his take on the Firebird I. It has a Les Paul body with a single pickup and a Firebird neck. Some people don’t like it, but it looked and sounded really good on stage. This is a picture of the guitar from that night. We weren’t able to zoom in as much as I would have liked, but you get the idea of what the guitar looks like:

This week’s Photo Friday post is a day late, but here is Luther Dickinson playing with the Black Crowes in 2008 at the Newport Folk Festival. I had a chance to see Dickinson play with the Crowes in 2009, and his guitar playing was definitely one of the highlights of the show. I’m looking forward to seeing him play with the North Mississippi Allstars this week in support of their new album Keys to the Kingdom.

This is a photo of Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys playing at last year’s Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Dan has some of the coolest vintage guitars. The one he’s playing below is a Harmony H76 Thinline. The photo was taken by Jeff Christensen/Associated Press.

This is a photo of Rory Gallagher playing his well-worn Stratocaster around the time of his Irish Tour ’74 album release:

Photo credit: www.rorygallagher.com

Robert Johnson is one of the most legendary blues musicians of all time. His influence is heard in many modern blues artists, and his songs have been covered by legendary artists like Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, and the original incarnation of Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green, among many others.

This is one of, I believe, only two known photographs of Johnson to be discovered.

This is a photo of Joe Bonamassa playing a 1990 Fender Robben Ford signature guitar. Although he has previously sworn off Fenders, he has added a few of them back into his arsenal, including this one and a Fender Esquire.

© 2010 GuitarLifestyle.com. My wife took this photo on November 26, 2010 when Joe played in Nashville. If you copy or link to this file, please include attribution.

This is a photo of Derek Trucks from 08/25/2008. Although he’s well known for playing an SG, he added an original 1959 Les Paul to his playing arsenal during his tour in 2008.

Photo credit: Copyright 2008 moemoephoto.com

Jimmy Page is one of my favorite guitarists. There are a lot of iconic pictures of Page that have been made over the years, but I like this one because it puts the focus on his Les Paul:

Photo credit: This photo was apparently taken in Detroit in 1975. I’ve been unable to determine who took the picture. If you know, please let me know in the comments and I’ll update this post.

This is a photo of Sean Costello playing his beloved ’53 Goldtop Les Paul:

Photo credit: Copyright 2007 Trish Imbrogno

This photo of Stevie Ray Vaughan has always had an impact on me:

Photo credit: Copyright © 1997 – W.A. Williams