Pure speculation question

[bombtek]

Say that plane crash never happened, and Randy was still around, what if any, brand guitar do you think he'd be playing.
My guess....PRS
I don't think he would have stuck with Jackson for much past the 1990s.

[Vass]

Gibson. Jackson would have been a memory. The 74 LP would have 400 signature models.

Taking it a step further- Sharon would have canned him or, as is oft speculated, he would have given up on metal for a while at least- but the money would be better there than anywhere else. Would he be Jake E. Lee? Dunno. But he would not be revered as he is. He's sort of the Mickey Mantle of guitarists- as great as Mick was, how much greater would he have been if he didn't tear up his knee? It's one of the great baseball speculations and feeds the legend.

If Rhoads had lived, there were a million new shredders emerging just a few years later going neoclassical.

To be clear- love RR. The Tribute album literally changed my life and has so much to do with why I play guitar today. So I'm not a hater- quite the opposite- I'm a fanboy. That said, he, like many who die tragically young, has a halo on him because of what may have been.

[Axewielder]

Had he lived and walked out on Jackson, they would have discontinued the RR model. So there's that.

[Vass]

Which would have changed the trajectory of Jackson. If there was any trajectory to be had. All Charvel? If Jackson was created to keep the "pointy" guitars away from the Charvel brand, would there have BEEN pointy guitars besides the RR? And would the RR have been such a "thing" without Rhoads entering "tragic legend" territory?

Would Rhoads have kept playing the Jackson anyway? He barely had a chance to even play it as it is. He had the Sandoval, he had the LP.... the Jackson could have just been a weird shaped guitar he collaborated on that went nowhere.

Instead- unique design+newly minted dead legend+mourning family who probably needed the money= Marketing lightning.

Who was the next big name guy to pick one up, Vinnie Vincent? That's pretty thin.

There may have been no Jackson. And given where Charvel went later in the decade, Charvel may have just been another "hot rod" strat company that went bye bye.

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/the-making-of-randy-rhoads-famous-vs-1

Note where Grover says, in Grover's opinion, that he was just "warming up" to the guitar when he died. He had it for 5 months at that point and never gigged it regularly, so how warm could he be?

[xenophobe]

ESP if he stayed in metal, but he supposedly wasn't so into that so he would have likely become a vintage snob.

[Mudlark]

So many possibilities. He may have become Jackson's most faithful endorser to this day. A signature ESP perhaps?

Strong chance he may have leaned more on his classics like the LP, also.

I assume he could take that Rhoads shape to any maker? Or, would there be some legal binding with Jackson?

[daisp]

He'd be playing Gibsons but prob out of the lime light

[VitaminG]

he'd be playing New Age transcendental meditation music on a $50,000 nylon string

[Larz]

I think he would have retired out of the spotlight and kept the family music school going

[shramiac]

If emphysema hadn't got him (his lungs were pretty bad according to the autopsy report), I could see him still rocking out on a PRS....after getting the classical degree of course.....maybe after a tour or two with John Williams!

[Sanctuary]

Saxophone.

[Nightbat]

My guess is he'd either been swallowed by the topsy turvy world of R&R, or made good on his word and got out and spent his days a guitar teacher

From what I gather from the way people described his character, I'm not so sure he'd been able to pull himself away from the manipulative world he found himself in

[RR2772]

It was on the cards though that Randy had decided to leave and Ozzy was informed. He did not want to do the speak of the devil covers and eventually after some bad vibes making a deal for one more album and tour. Then he sadly died. He did have plans for getting into classical music and teaching. The rock n roll circus around him had made him start to wonder about it all.

As for Jackson it is said that the Concorde white V was not a favorite and the 3 RRs did not exist long enough completed for Randy's feedback. He only had one for about 3 months.

If he was happy he might have gone with Jackson as they were there to build what ever he wanted and clearly already doing so. The RR style would be a standard shape regardless of where Randy would go. I don't think he would discontinue the rights even if he decided on something else.

I don't think Les Pauls as such due to Randy's small build. The Jackson's fits better for that.

[freedom's door]

He would have been playing classical on nylon sting acoustics, and teaching at/running his mom's school.

[straycat]

Why do people obsess about stuff like this?
There is no answer so why even ask the question?