For as long as most of us can remember, the guitar industry has been a boys’ club. From ad campaigns to signature series, it’s mostly been men designing, building, and, most visibly, slinging guitars on the world’s biggest stages. But as any music fan knows, that’s never been the full story. Women have always been there, pushing boundaries and making their mark, even if the gear world hasn’t always recognized it.Now, International Women’s Day is the perfect moment to spotlight just how much things are changing. In the last few years, we’ve seen more and more women getting their own signature guitars, and frankly, it’s about damn time.Look at Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent. Her Ernie Ball Music Man model is a total rethink of what a signature instrument can be, with radical lines, a lightweight design, and a vibe that’s all her own. Susan Tedeschi’s Fender Telecaster channels her decades of blues power, built to take the kind of beating her intense touring schedule demands, while Fatoumata Diawara brings Malian influences and a global perspective to her custom SG model, and Yvette Young’s quirky Ibanez signature is just as innovative and expressive as her finger-tapped melodies.In this collection, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite artist models to shine a spotlight on these standout instruments and the artists behind them, showing how female signature models are changing the face of guitar for good.
