1980s Guitars for 80s Guitar Players

Everyone remembers the 1980s. From Los Angeles to the UK, from Japan to Europe, the youth felt like rock stars. The decadence of the 80s was historic. Unlike today, most guitar players had big hair and dressed rock-n-roll. Hence the terms Hair Metal, Glam Rock, Heavy metal, or just plain old Metal.

Back in the mid 1980s a few guitar manufacturers brought ideas to the classic guitars that had come before and ushered in change. Some people call it the era of the shred guitar. Others may call it the era of hot rod guitars or just call the instruments shredder guitars.

In reality the guitars from the 1980s are different. Even in metal music today guitar players and their guitars have a certain swagger that is much different from the 1950s and 1960s time. Waist length hair and extreme clothes along with high output pickups, Floyd Rose tremolos and ground breaking guitar shapes started a trend in the nineteen-eighties that many musicians subscribe to all these decades later.

The 1980s proved that technique and virtuoso chops actually did require an instrument that pushed that envelope. A guitar much different than what had been there before the 80s. Trends came and went as did the shapes and colors of 80s guitars. Yet, no one can deny that through it all some guitars were truly different and remain desirable to this day. Much of this is due to a few creative guitar designers and manufacturers that managed to capture the likes and needs of the 1980s guitar player.

This page will highlight familiar guitars from the 1980s. Any one of them could be that beautiful thing in an MTV video you truly lusted after. It could be the 80s guitar for sale at your local guitar shop you stared at with envy yet could not afford.