What makes a guitar great the player or the guitar?

Easy, the player every time.

SRV's bass player described his strat as a nasty finger shredder, apparently Stevie often had bleeding fingers after gigs and tried to harden the tips with superglue. EVH's 'frankenstein' was described as 'crap' by reviewers when a replica came out. Joe Strummer's telecaster is heavy and could hardly be intonated it's so worn, yet in his hands it was Clash magic.

Wannabee luthiers are gifting big players with special models all the time. Often the player never plays the gift but the manufacturer trumpets the 'endorsement' anyway. Minarik were very cheeky with Lemmy suggesting he'd switched from Rickenbacker to their bass, picture of Lem with it looks like a photoshop job too!

Yep...I agree! It's the player...   notice that sometimes a player will have a guitar onstage sitting on a stand? Often that's an endorsement model and part of the agreement is to be seen with the instrument. I met a mandolin player once who didn't play his endorsement model much (although an outstanding model) but was required to be seen with it...His main instrument was the same brand, but a much older model that he'd played for years...

Great players play great instruments. They earn this right

You don't see those top notch NASCAR race car drivers pedaling big wheels(little,plastic, tri-cycle toy) around the race track do ya?

You don't see Wimbleton tennis players using spatulas to hit the tennis ball do ya?

You don't see world class Bass fishermen using a soda pop can and sewing thread to catch fish do ya?

You won't ever see a World Cup soccer game with those guys runnin' around in cut-off wrangler blue jean shorts, they wear top notch, athetic sports shorts, right ?........

Shoot fire, I could go on all day with this one.........

A great instument will not make an ordinary person sound great, but a great player will make an ordinary instrument sound great. IT IS THE MAN, NOT THE MACHINE!

From my experience it's both.

I am by no means a great guitar player. But i've been playing with the wrong instrument now for the past year and though I have made progress, it has been hard.

Had I been working with an instrument that fit me better, I could be 30% more proficient at my desired hobby as I have been working with something that did not fit.

Though the artists ability is a large factor in the whole summary of the condition, the instrument's quality plays a HUGE part in it as well.

No matter how hard you try....you will never....ever....be able to polish a turd.

Dm

A good player can get A GOOD SOUND using a squier, but look at their gear, big fat (often Marshall) amps.
If you perform on stage and you have the possibility to play in front of 80.000 people, you won't probably not hear a difference. Squier vs Fender MIM vs Fender MIA.
Or an Epiphone LP custom vs Gibson LP.
It' entirely different if you compare 10 guitars, and I use that amp a lot, an ACOUSTIC amp without using effects. Give real good players 20 different Electric Guitars, with the headstock covered and see what this result should be. Or you can blindfold the player so he is able to feel the body without seeing it.