Put on your guitarist face and get into air-guitar stance, we're going to talk about axes. And not the kind that cut down trees.
Electric guitars, specifically solid-body electric guitars, came into their own in the rock n' roll era. And two companies battled for dominance in sales and prestige: Fender, with the Esquire/Broadcaster/Telecaster and later models, and Gibson, with the Les Paul model.
The rivalry is portrayed in Ian S. Port's book The Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock 'n' Roll. The author sits down to visit on axes. Yes, guitars.