Joe Bonamassa's Les Paul on the MR home page:

[bochetagrave]

Can we keep the Bigsby and destroy him?

[Skipped]

A very successful musician who loves guitars and therefore spends most of his spare time checking out, borrowing, buying, and touring with, a whole bunch of 50's Gibson Les Pauls. Like some ridiculous GAS wet dream.

It is truly puzzling why some guitarists seem to hate him but I am sure I will figure it out eventually......

[p90fool]

I definitely don't hate him, he actually seems like a great guy, and good luck to him.

I just think that unless you're in your mid 50s, have a grey ponytail and always wish you'd played in a band but never really got it together, it's all just a teensy bit samey and depressing. Luckily for him there are enough of those guys to fill the Albert Hall many times over.

[fretmeister]

Surely the real crime here is the white headphones and inside-out pants!?!?

No.

its the use of "pants" when describing outer clothing

[mellowsun]

I definitely don't hate him, he actually seems like a great guy, and good luck to him.

+1 but I don't like his music. He is a good player, but I don't think he's taking guitar forward in any way really. But he loves what he does and is popular, so that's fine. The worst thing though is the amount of unwarranted and fawning coverage he gets in the guitar press.

Whereas someone like Matt Bellamy - who's guitar playing I'm not overly keen on - has at least tried to take the guitar forward, although these days he thinks he is Brian May.

[TheGuitarWeasel]

I definitely don't hate him, he actually seems like a great guy, and good luck to him.

I just think that unless you're in your mid 50s, have a grey ponytail and always wish you'd played in a band but never really got it together, it's all just a teensy bit samey and depressing. Luckily for him there are enough of those guys to fill the Albert Hall many times over.

Spot on .... er ... except I have a ponytail ... er ... and I'm in my mid fifties ... mind you I have been in many bands ... and got it together (sort of).
I think he's a very nice bloke who has been hyped to hell and back by a music press that doesn't have enough to occupy its collective tiny minds!

[BucketheadRules]

A very successful musician who loves guitars and therefore spends most of his spare time checking out, borrowing, buying, and touring with, a whole bunch of 50's Gibson Les Pauls. Like some ridiculous GAS wet dream.

It is truly puzzling why some guitarists seem to hate him but I am sure I will figure it out eventually......

I don't hate him at all, I think he's a great player.

I do question his taste in vibrato tailpieces though.