Richie is one of the best!! Great tone, dynamics, speed and creativity!! 

Oh I've seen the video of Blackmore destroying a Stratocaster and Hendrix burning and destroying a Stratocaster. 

Now I want to see footage of someone smashing a Les Paul!! I know Dickey Betts threw a Les Paul across the stage and Red Dog noticed it didn't break so put it back in Dickey's rack. Next day Dickey saw the Les Paul and beat it into the floor so hard the neck snapped off. So Red Dog put it in a dumpster after Dickey walked away. But there isn't any video footage of that. 

Here is Blackmore on a Strat he didn't smash but Blackmore sets that Strat on fire with his fingers!! 

When speed is the metric, I think Blackmore of course can smoke anybody that's been in the Allman Brothers plus Clapton and Jimmy Page and David Gilmore, but can Blackmore smoke Joe Satriani and Steve Vai??? 

Wow I think it's very close.