Guitar is a stunning visual account of the world's most popular instrument, once the territory of wandering minstrels and now a leading symbol of today's popular culture. Carlos Santana has a legendary collection and famous rock musicians' guitars are regularly auctioned at Sotheby's and Christie's for enormous sums. This lavishly illustrated reference offers portraits in color and text of the most important and beautiful guitars in existence. Each page features a detailed profile of a single guitar, from some of the earliest models that are part of Oxford University's Ashmolean collection, to early Victorian and classic Spanish models, through the classics produced by Fender, Gibson, Rickenback and Martin, to custom-made guitars for modern virtuosos such as Pete Townsend, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters and Jimmy Page.