Carlos Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican and American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured his melodic, blues-based lines set against Latin and African rhythms played on percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock.

Santana played a red Gibson SG Special with P-90 pickups at the Woodstock festival (1969). During 1970–1972 the time between the release of Abraxas (1970) and Santana III 1971, he used different Gibson Les Pauls and a black Gibson SG Special. In 1974 he played and endorsed the Gibson L6-S Custom. This can be heard on the album Borboletta (1974). From 1976 until 1982 his main guitar was a Yamaha SG 175B, and sometimes a white Gibson SG Custom with three open coil pick-ups. In 1982 he started to use a custom made PRS Custom 24 guitar. In 1988 PRS Guitars began making Santana signature model guitars.