@dodgealum: Tell your guitar-playing friend to give a listen to Danny Gatton (mentioned by another poster above). In-cre-di-ble! Vince Gill---a mighty fine player himself---nicknamed him The Humbler ;-) . A guitarist’s guitarist. Jerry Garcia has his fans, but few of them are other great guitarists. Hey, don’t shoot the messenger!
I favour Telecaster players myself---Gatton played the Tele, as did his sometimes-bandmate Evan Johns (three albums on Rykodisc, a bunch on other Indi’s, including the one I did with him entitled Moontan). So do Albert Lee (The Everly Brothers, Emmylou Harris), James Burton (Ricky Nelson, Elvis, Emmylou Harris---she gets all the best musicians ;-), Steve Cropper (Booker T & The MG’s), Don Rich (Buck Owens’ Buckaroos), John Jorgenson (The Desert Rose Band, The Hellecasters), Al Anderson (NRBQ, solo), Dave Edmunds (though he played Gibson ES335’s for years), Albert Collins, so many others.
The Strat has it’s adherents too: Ry Cooder, Richard Thompson, Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), both the Vaughan brothers. But the guitar played most often with a pedal steel player---by far---is the Telecaster.
I favour Telecaster players myself---Gatton played the Tele, as did his sometimes-bandmate Evan Johns (three albums on Rykodisc, a bunch on other Indi’s, including the one I did with him entitled Moontan). So do Albert Lee (The Everly Brothers, Emmylou Harris), James Burton (Ricky Nelson, Elvis, Emmylou Harris---she gets all the best musicians ;-), Steve Cropper (Booker T & The MG’s), Don Rich (Buck Owens’ Buckaroos), John Jorgenson (The Desert Rose Band, The Hellecasters), Al Anderson (NRBQ, solo), Dave Edmunds (though he played Gibson ES335’s for years), Albert Collins, so many others.
The Strat has it’s adherents too: Ry Cooder, Richard Thompson, Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), both the Vaughan brothers. But the guitar played most often with a pedal steel player---by far---is the Telecaster.